Designer Distraction

What constitutes ‘good’ design is of course a nebulous question with a constantly shifting answer, but I thought (in an idle few minutes) it might be interesting/fun/other to look at some of the things which make me deviate from the course of good and rightous design;

#1 Grafik Design
Very often, (and often with out knowing it) I will see something I like on pages 3-5 of Grafik Magazine and replicate it in whatever I’m working on at the time, regardless of whether it is appropriate. I think it is something in the strong solvents and inks used to print it that affects my brain in this way. My aspiration to get over this is to at least start copying from eye magazine, then hopefully be in a position to ween myself off…

#2 Becoming Obsessed by an Issue
As readers of the Blog will be aware, I’m a little fixated with the corrosive impact of the ‘Brand’ on creative activity. This tends to blinker me to the fact that maybe, just maybe, sometimes control and consistency branding is right and is the right solution for the problem at hand. (Still maintain that 90% of the time it’s not though…).

#3 Countering Perceived Weaknesses
Kind of similar to #1 I have recently become self concious of a big gap in my knowledge and understanding of modernist typography, so in an effort to redress this I am perhaps somewhat over-compensating and hence jobs that maybe don’t require it are getting (an attempt at) a minimalist modernist treatment.

#4 Not Standing Ground in the Face of Creativity Sapping ‘External Factors’
The audience will probably realise the thinly veiled conceit of ‘external factors’ being me referring to ‘clients’. Needless to say a major deviation from a ‘good design’ can (sometimes) originate from this source. Be strong! They’ll respect you for it! (Perhaps!)

#5 Not Fully Understanding Yourself
I’ve always been a strong proponent of the ‘problem solving’ definition of what design is about, but it wasn’t until I read this great piece on Experimental Jetsets website that I fully realised what this was about (or at least had a completely different take on it). Complete rethink please.

#6 Many Other Things