Photo by cottonbro from Pexels
All right, the skeleton is a bit of a stretch, I couldn't agree more.
Yet, the colorful and assorted candies inside are not exaggerated at all. As designers, we obviously see with different eyes. Yet, we aren't aware of this most of the time.
I was 15 when I earned my first money from my design. Since then, I couldn't no longer see anything as I look at it before. An invisible force deflects my thoughts.
I sometimes wish to think like everyone else.
You see the ordinary, I see the design.
Let's spend an evening together. You who aren't interested in design, and I, the designer. Everything we look at and see is the same.
What do you say? Are we going to think in the same way?
Photos by Jose Francisco Fernandez Saura, Trang Doan, Mehrad Vosoughi from Pexels
“Everything is design. everything!” — Paul Rand
We'll call a car via the mobile app to go out in the evening. We're both going to use this app for the first time.
Once you downloaded the app, you approved your account. Then, you checked the cars and learned the prices. You may be spent 30 or 40 seconds to complete all these. Your one and only goal was to check the price. However, I am still surfing the app even after 2-3 minutes, and though I have learned the prices. My goal was to check the price, too. Yet, my subconscious gave me another purpose. I zoomed in everything from the app's sign-up process, user-friendliness other than functions such as calling a car, the color and icon preferences.
We quit bothering with the app and called our car. We got in our car and drove towards the city center. There are colorful roadside billboards as well as giant ads on the buildings.
You look at the ads and see the brand new mobile phone models along with trendy clothes. Then, your mind writes a note to purchase it later. But I, looking at the products, delve into the color combinations, the font choices, and the effects they try to create on people. My eyes are searching for the agency or designer signatures below the ads.
We arrive at the restaurant. The table we booked is waiting for us. We order the food before we starve to death. Our meals are served when we hit the high spots of the rumors.
You take your elegant plate's photo and post it with the restaurant tag on social media. On the other hand, I look at the chef's plate choice, the ingredient presentation, and its harmony with the artillery. Symmetrical fruit slices fascinate me.
We stopped gazing at our fancy plates. We ate up all our meals, and now, we are full. On the way home after a stroll, we stop by the supermarket for kitchen shopping.
Your focus is on household essentials - buying the most organic milk, the crispy bread, and the cheese you will eat in the morning in your mind. Yet, I fall in love with the design of the milk carton. The illustration of the cheese box hypnotizes me and makes me think about the designer's effort to draw it. I put the most aesthetically pleasing baguette to the basket, pushing the amorphous bread loaf aside, probably taking this shape while baking in the oven.
We finally made it home, leaving behind an enjoyable day.
Color inspector
Photo by Sharon McCutcheon from Pexels
“Color does not add a pleasant quality to design — it reinforces it.” — Pierre Bonnard
Like an inspector, I check colors in every app I use, every ad I see, or every product I purchase. Is the use of color precise? How would it be better? I keep asking these questions.
If I come across a perfectly colored design, I take a photo of it or take a screenshot for later. I try to burn it into my mind if I can't do any of these.
Without even being aware, I transfer the colors of the new project from my subconscious.
Pixel obsessive
I am uncomfortably obsessed with this. Each object should be at an equal distance and level in design. Every designer is mindful of this. Not a problem so far.
Whenever the building windows differ, this bothers you, or whenever you start checking the paving stones to see if they are proper... Welcome to the club. Now you're an obsessive, too.
In my opinion, designers are poles apart on this issue.
Designers like me try to maintain a balanced layout in every aspect.
Designers who think scatter plot triggers creativity.
Nobody can say one is right and the other is wrong. Everybody works in a different way. Yet, there is only one reality: To do a perfect job and maintain the highest level of quality.
User experience (UX) ambassador
Photo by Caleb Oquendo from Pexels
“Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works.” — Steve Jobs
A lot of mistakes in daily life make our life burdensome. Most of us don't pay attention. Yet, as a designer, the following questions and alike pop up in my mind.
Are the traffic signs in the right place?
Are the lines of zebra crossing in harmony with the traffic lights?
Is the office rubbish bin accessible?
Can I easily find the restaurant toilet?
Can I directly open the store doors on my first try?
It beats me how people can make such simple mistakes. I want to live my life without this analysis. I want to go with the flow. I can't.
I forgot how many times I tried to reach companies or institutions to correct their mistakes or errors in the products.
Although my life becomes challenging at times because of this, there is a sole reason why the designer minds work this way. The desire to do their job better.
An ad I see or watch, a product I buy, or an experience that disturbs me today will indeed affect my production design tomorrow. Every gained experience of mine means one step further in every product I design.
I'd like to thank all designers since they think like designers and make our lives easier.
We hope you stay creative and colorful.
Selçuk Sevindik
Head of UX
