Remember, visual design is more than just “looking good”

Designers and barbers are actually a bit similar. There are basically three types of barbers: one is who can only do basic hairstyles, such as a buzz cut, conventional long hair, old lady curls, etc.; one is who can only cut popular hairstyles (this type of hairstylist can easily transform himself into a styling master and tell you that you should change and cut a certain popular hairstyle, but in fact it may be that he is only good at this hairstyle); and there is another type that is the most rare. He will design a hairstyle tailored to your face shape, personality, etc. with the simplest method, which will immediately improve the customer's temperament.

After so many years in the industry, I have come into contact with many designers, who can be roughly divided into the following categories: junior designers who can only do basic design (gong); senior designers with superb skills who can handle all popular styles (jiang); design masters who can tailor the design style according to the character and characteristics of the product (shi). So how can you become the third type of designer?

Of course, the third type of designers are very rare. Even if they exist, they are usually in a very high position and do not necessarily do the design personally.

First, it can penetrate and restore the essence of the product

A few days ago, a colleague in Hangzhou showed me a product they were working on and asked me to give some suggestions from a design perspective. He said that the idea of ​​this product is somewhat similar to Juhuasuan, but it is aimed at small and medium-sized shop owners on Taobao. I said that this is a problem. If you hadn't said it, I would have thought it was a product for ordinary users, and the style is similar to Juhuasuan, and I can't see any difference. He said that the business was borrowed from Juhuasuan, and UED was also copied and improved, and it became what it is now.

The most basic thing for a designer is to restore the essence of a product through design, so that users can roughly understand the characteristics of the product at a glance. For example, Taobao should give the feeling of a market at first glance, while Tmall should give the feeling of a mall at first glance. It is meaningless to dress up a duck as a swan, which will only increase the user's confusion and trouble.

I have had such an experience myself. We designed an official website for a big data product before. I was very satisfied with the designer’s work, but the boss made a comment: Yours is a C-end (customer) style, and mine is a to B (business) website. Don’t give me this C-end style in the future! We later analyzed many to B website styles and found that they do have obvious commonalities, but we are used to the existing C-end experience and ignore such obvious characteristics of such websites. At that time, I was also reflecting on why the boss who didn’t understand design could find problems in the design? Because she understood the business well enough and her vision was broader! It can be seen that to really do a good job in design, it is not enough to only understand things at the design level. You need to broaden your horizons and knowledge and look at problems from a higher perspective.

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Secondly, we can find direction through analysis and research

Let's take the example again. We all hope to have a higher vision, but this is not something that can be achieved all at once. Most designers cannot reach that level, otherwise they would all be bosses. So what should we do? The answer is just one sentence: analyze, analyze, and analyze again. We study the commonalities and design features of websites in the same industry; analyze the positioning and features of our own website, and then plan the design style of the website from the perspective of commonality + individuality. Although the result of the *** is not shocking, everyone thinks it is much better than the previous version.

When it comes to analysis, many people think that this is the job of product managers, user researchers, and interaction designers, and has nothing to do with visual design. Visual design is a job full of creativity and imagination, and excessive research will limit design ideas.

However, design is different from art. Design is to solve specific problems and be able to be reasonably demonstrated. If it relies entirely on imagination and creativity, it will diverge endlessly. If the demander is always dissatisfied, the designer will also feel very painful, after all, inspiration will also run out.

So I think the best way is to narrow the scope through professional analysis, and then diverge freely within a specific range, so as to make a good design. Of course, it is difficult to grasp this degree. If you focus too much on analysis, the best result may not be fault-free but not outstanding; if you focus too much on creativity, the best result may be outstanding but not in the right direction. You need to keep exploring until you reach a balance.

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Third, be able to clearly explain the design ideas and gain everyone’s recognition

The so-called analysis does not mean just burying your head in thinking and then producing a design result. You need to constantly deduce in the process and form a structured thinking, so that you can explain your design clearly.

How important is it to communicate the design clearly?

I went on a business trip to Hangzhou a while ago. I heard that this year a large design team in Hangzhou nominated more than a dozen people, but only one person was successfully promoted. She was chosen for promotion not because of the importance of the project she was responsible for, nor because of her outstanding professional level, but for only one reason: that is, she could explain her design clearly. The judges believed that "good-looking" is a must. If the designer's work is not good-looking, then what is the point of being a designer? If you want to move to the next level, you must be able to explain clearly how your design came about.

This reason may seem strange, but how many designers can explain their designs clearly and gain everyone's approval?

The most common explanation of design I hear is: this composition is so-so; this style is so-so; this color is so-so; this texture is so-so; this icon is so-so... It sounds reasonable, but it gives me a feeling of being "professionally kidnapped". This "explaining clearly" does not mean explaining it clearly from a design professional perspective, but it means making sure that product managers, interaction designers, and even development engineers can understand and agree with it. Therefore, designers should not only have the big picture mentioned above and do enough analysis, but also try to present the complete derivation process with structured thinking, which is what we often call "methodology". If you can do all these, are you still afraid of not being able to explain your design clearly?

In fact, the above three points are about one thing: have a big picture, do a good job of analysis in advance, and finally speak it out clearly and get everyone's approval. Many people may complain that people who work hard, are professional but not good at speaking are not valued, while people who talk big are getting better and better. Yes, I believe that this phenomenon exists in any company, including myself, who is not good at speaking. But please believe that most people who rely only on talent and experience are destined to not climb high in the workplace, while people who can talk freely at any time will not have nothing in their minds.

***, remember, “Visual design is about more than just looking good.”