How to think about creating a layout
“If you had to choose an animal with the characteristics of your company, which would it be?” We ask this question occasionally as we are getting to know a new client’s company. It may seem silly, but the answer helps us bypass industry jargon and reach the core of a company’s personality. It’s only fair, then, for us to return the favor and answer the same question.
But first, let’s narrow the scope to one of the many jobs in marketing: design. If you were to take on the task of creating your own layouts, how would you think like a designer? What animal best represents the mind of a designer?
The answer is: magpies! Magpies are known for being thieves. They are smart, noisy, and love bright, shiny objects (all things that may be true about your friendly neighborhood designer). Occasionally, they weave their stolen shiny loot into their nests. A well-known design maxim lifted and tweaked from a T. S. Eliot essay is this: “Good artists copy, great artists steal.” In the spirit of the magpie, designers search for shiny, good ideas to weave into their layouts.
Now, graphic designers with integrity do not actually plagiarize other people’s work. But they must be good at examining other designs to see what makes them work. They steal good ideas, not content. In fact, in true magpie style, they steal good ideas not just from other designers but also from a host of other professions. Here’s the secret for your own layouts: by stealing skills from other vocations, you can also think like a designer. Let’s start with…a translator.
Think like a translator
I remember sitting around at a family reunion, listening to one of the grizzly uncles tell what they thought was a real knee-slapper, only to be met with blank stares. “Ach,” he would say, “It just sounds so much better in German.” Translating humor is hard work, requiring extensive knowledge of both languages. You have to be able to translate not only the words but also the lingo, rhythms, puns, and punchlines to make it funny in the other language.
In the same way, graphic design requires translation. Graphic designers have to take text or scribbles on a napkin or words from other people’s mouths and turn them into color, pattern, and texture. In order to translate well, graphic designers have to “speak” fluently in both languages—visuals and text. They have to read well and listen carefully, making sure they understand before communicating in the new language.
To think like a translator as you create layouts, make sure you thoroughly understand the content you are trying to lay out—the first language. Have you read it? Read it again? Have you had someone else read it and compare their notes with yours? If you’re gathering information, have you taken good notes? Have you tried the message out on a buyer or someone who doesn’t know the information like you do? Translating the message between the buyer and the seller is important. Test on both sides so you know it will work.
Second, if the language of visual design is new to you, brush up on the basics. The elements and principles of design (and art) are simple: things like color, shape, and shadow. Find a list of elements and principles and study other examples of what you’re trying to create to see how others use them.
Think like a gardener
When I first began to beautify my yard, I assumed it would be easy. All I needed to do was go to the nearest garden center and pick up a few things. Not so, I discovered. Designing a lovely garden is a time-consuming, multi-faceted task.
A key feature of garden design is creating beauty through contrast. While I love snapdragons, an entire field of snapdragons somehow lessens the effect of their burst of color. Skilled gardeners use height, color, texture, growing season, and placement to create sections that play against each other. Large sections of low-contrast plants emphasize high-contrast centerpieces. The contrast keeps the garden beautiful, fresh, and lively.
In the same way, you can keep layouts fresh by using contrast well. Is everything in your layout the same? Or are you varying font and image sizes, planning focal points, and keeping the color fresh and lively? Like a skilled gardener, plant visual pieces and content carefully. The end result will be worth the work.
Think like a framer
Houses are complex visual designs. The frame of a house is a work of art all by itself. House framers must plan carefully which parts of the frame need 2x8s or 2x6s, which need 2x4s, and which need massive beams. The sizes are different because the larger beams need to support more weight. Also, a framing carpenter has to build around and support the beautiful and decorative parts of the house: doors, windows, fireplaces, bump-outs, dormers, and so much more.
Designers have to think in the same way. If the pieces of a layout are like the wood of the frame, it follows that not all pieces need to bear the same weight. Some pieces—headlines or calls to action—are load-bearing and must be the biggest, the brightest, or the boldest. Some pieces, such as contact info or product images, have much smaller (but still important) jobs to do. And most of the pieces of a layout will just be 2x4s; important, but smaller and more common. In design, the work of framing is known as creating a hierarchy. Without hierarchy, your layout will be only as effective as a house frame built entirely out of 2x4s—a bit wobbly and out of whack.
Think like a cartographer
A cartographer is just a fancy word for a map-maker. There are different kinds of cartographers. Some map things that already exist, like maps of nature. Some create maps of things that will exist in the future, like city planners. One of the primary features of a map is the grid. Grids can both make order out of the natural features of a mountain and outline a potential city block.
Designers think like cartographers when they use grids in layouts. Although these grids may not be explicitly drawn out and numbered, the content still has to be organized, and it will make more sense if it is on a grid. Humans quickly make sense of how things are aligned or misaligned, and so controlling alignment through grids helps control attention.
When you create a layout, try beginning with a grid. Then use the columns and rows to align the pieces of your layout. You’ll be surprised at how quickly the pieces snap together and how easy it is to make sense of them.
Think like a barnacle scraper
Barnacles are a bit like grass; if you don’t regularly take care of them, they’ll take over. Barnacles glue themselves to ships underneath the waterline. They can cover up or entirely ruin the ship’s paint job, which is indignity enough; but worse, they eat away any protective coating, leaving the hull open to rust and corrosion. As they accumulate, they weigh down the boat, destroying fuel efficiency by as much as 60%.
To solve this problem, scuba divers don their equipment and dive underwater, spending hours or even days removing the stubborn crustaceans. It’s an unglamorous task that’s crucial to a boat’s performance in the water. Barnacle scrapers keep the boat looking pretty and running efficiently.
In the same way, layouts have a tendency to accumulate lots of excess pieces, ideas that your boss had while driving to work or “a small concern” from your legal advisor. Designers have to think like barnacle scrapers, regularly diving in to remove anything that is not strictly necessary to the design’s message. While a few extra bullet points or colors or pieces of contact info might seem harmless, they are slowly working to drag down the efficiency of the layout.
Eventually, you might get stuck in the water; nobody will try to read your message because it takes them 60% longer than it should. Even if some of those extras seem glued on, scrape the hull of your layout ruthlessly. Revealing the beautiful and efficient design underneath is worth the effort.
Thinking like a designer
A recent study cast doubt on the truth of the thieving reputation of the magpie; perhaps they’ve been unfairly maligned. But when it comes to design, some thieving of the jobs of others is actually a positive way to make stronger layouts, so we do not need to rehabilitate the reputation of designers.
Rather, anyone can think like a designer by stealing the mindsets of translators, gardeners, framers, cartographers, and barnacle scrapers. So get in the magpie spirit and start designing. You’ll be impressed by the designs you bring to life.
If you’d like someone to help you think through not just layouts but your entire marketing plan, Rosewood is here to help you. Learn more about the Marketing Guide Path™ at www.rosewood.us.com.