“Because our modern world has made designers of us all (ready or not), Before & After is dedicated to making graphic design understandable, useful and even fun for everyone.”
~ Before & After Magazine

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Everyone is a designer

That proclamation may shock and horrify you if you don’t believe you’re creative (or if you’re a design professional). It may (or may not) be some consolation to hear that there’s no such thing as a bad designer, or even a good one. Or even good or bad design.

A design or designer can be unfocused, unpracticed, uneducated, uninitiated, or uninformed…ill-considered or ill-advised…half-finished, half-baked or half-assed. But something as blanketly judgmental and non-definitive as bad? Or good?

Nahhh…I don’t believe in that.

And I don’t believe we need formal education to do great design work or effectively criticize it. Some designers will surely argue that (and they can debate it without me, thanks), but we’ve all seen sissy shit spewed forth from lettered scholars and stunning yummage crafted by folks who’ve never taken a class.

Which is a really good wonderful thing, right? Because most of us aren’t design pros and at some point we’ll need business cards, brochures, websites, stylish ebooks with nice covers, PowerPoint decks, handouts and takeaways, promotional stuff, yadda yadda.

And we’ll likely need them before we can afford a “real” designer to create them for us.

That said, just because we’re not design professionals doesn’t mean we can get away with making hasty, craptacular stuff. There’s no excuse for that when there are resources and tools to help us make designs that are good eye-catching, interesting, and effective. Help is out there, and plenty of it is either free or a great value. Anyone can do this, which means everyone can.

Yes, that means you too

I’m way sure you can create those eye-catching, interesting, and effective things for yourself with enough exposure to (and experience with) great examples.

And helpful, detailed instructions.

And some thoughtful observation.

And plenty of practical practice.

Talent would help, but it’s not required. Really.

“There’s no religion but line and color…”

~Sting, Send Your Love

…and also typography and usability and constructive critique. And maybe a few more.

Design is a really small handful of really big things, and it’s easy to find those things used well, used shittily, and everywhere in between. Look at and all over your desk. Look in your closet, your pantry, your refrigerator. Look at magazines and billboards and commercials and…well, look at everything.

Every shirt, bottle, box, pen, pad, electronic device, and piece of furniture you see was intentionally designed by someone. So why not you?

Examples are everywhere, but it’s a little harder to find good practical, real-world-ish, business-oriented examples that include those detailed instructions and/or thoughtful observations I mentioned. I do find them, though, and here are my tried-and-true favorites:

—Heartily Recommended—

Before & After Magazine

B & A articles feature practical projects (like business cards and newsletters) that are being improved or built from scratch. Lots of detailed observation throughout that will teach you to assess, understand, and appreciate why a design is or isn’t tickling your fancy.

I’ve had a subscription to the digital version since it started, so I have all of their delicious PDFs…and I treasure every one. Here’s a freebie (email required).

IdeaBook.com

Chuck Green is full of imaginative and elegant, yet still practical and professional, real-world design ideas. His Twitter feed (@ideabook) is packed with good links. For a stationary target, sign up for his newsletter for designer eye candy twice a month.

I have and love these books of Chuck’s: Design-It-Yourself: Graphic Workshop & The Desktop Publisher’s Idea Book, 2nd Edition

Robin Williams

Some in their third editions, Robin’s books promise (and deliver) a lively and nonthreatening overview of design basics for non-designers. Her books highlight typical amateur designs and illustrate simple (but thoughtful) improvements that bring them to professional-grade.

I have and love these books of Robin’s: The Non-Designer’s Design Book & The Non-Designer’s Web Book

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That’s plenty enough to explore until next week, eh?

p.s. Next post we’ll see about color.

p.p.s. Remember: “Recommended” links may return love to me.

p.p.s And hugs to @Reese for suggesting typography and usability for this series. Much needed direction, thanks!

photo courtesy of Flickr and anafukase