Nothing But Dave

I consider myself to be at the relatively early stages of designer development as I’m calling it. I believe learning when it comes to design is an ongoing process as it is with developing. Not because of a change in fashionable styles or processes but because nobody is ever going to be perfect, design-talent wise. That gives us all something to always work towards.

That being the case, there are still levels of experience and expertise to reach that I’m aiming for. I don’t have any formal education in design or development. I found art boring and never even chose to do I.T when it became available at GCSE level. I’ve learnt most of what I know about design from peers. Designs and books from others.

When it comes to teaching design, the subject isn’t very often covering the ‘why’ of something, it is simply explaining the ‘how’. The ‘how’ is something we all definitely need to know but the ‘why’ is much more important. Without reason, action is worthless. I’m now focusing on learning that ‘why’ — I often know why I’m doing something and why not to do something but I sometimes find myself unable to articulate the reasons for said decisions. I know certain basic principles to follow can make thing aesthetically pleasing etc but that doesn’t cover the details and that’s where I find work the most enjoyable.

I think a lot of reasoning behind my decisions are almost instinct, or based on taste. That’s fine and all but I’m not happy being unable to explain them properly to clients without saying “this book told me to do it…” or “I think it just looks nice…”. Learning is all part of the fun.