Comments on: Overdesign

By: Mark Boulton

Mark Boulton — Mon, 05 Sep 2005 09:28:19 +0000

Oh, overdesigning. When I was in university, my (book designer) lecturer instilled perhaps the most useful quote, something which I keep in my head whenever I design something.

Don’t let the design get in the way. If you notice it, you’ve gone too far. Don’t let the type get in the way of the words.

Genius.

By: Steven Hambleton

Steven Hambleton — Thu, 01 Sep 2005 15:33:15 +0000

I hope so! I’m reading more about what the website should acheive and trying to ‘pull’ people into the site.

I’ve lost the page I read this on now :(

I guess if you want to show off your creative graphic design side then an ‘overstyled’ site would be an advantage.

By: Geoffrey

Geoffrey — Thu, 01 Sep 2005 05:22:42 +0000

“I’m crap at graphic design but maybe this is a blessing as it forces me to focus on the message and the layout…”

Quite often these conversations make the point that sites like Google are great because the are free from the evils of “design”. But what most people fail to realize is that the success of Google has everything to do with design. It was designed to be what it is: a simple functional site.
I think this topic has much more to do with decoration than design. Being “crap at design” isn’t a blessing, it just means you’re probably good at something else.

By: Garrett

Garrett — Wed, 31 Aug 2005 23:11:23 +0000

I couldn’t agree more. It is unfortunate that more people don’t realize when they are over-designing things. An extra drop shadow here, some texture there, a little bit of wicked worn here.

Of course, there’s also those morons that under-design as well. ;)

Good stuff.

By: Amir

Amir — Wed, 31 Aug 2005 20:10:20 +0000

Great philosophical post there! I really enjoyed it. I think it ties into being a perfectionist. This is a mimmick of the same problem I am facing as a designer.

I have almost never until my most recent designs been satisfied with my creations. I would create a site and always feel something is missing.

Now I ddesign with a philosophy that whatever I put up I can always improve later. That way I am not spending months and months on one design trying to make it “perfect” and eventually hating it.

By: Mark

Mark — Wed, 31 Aug 2005 19:57:29 +0000

I didn’t think this at the time when you originally wrote this post some time ago, but right now, at this moment I really think simpleydone is by far your best designed “non-design” (to use your words) site you’ve got going.

All the other sites that are attributed to you – whether designed by you or BL – I feel is overdesigned.

Even this site, as minimal as it is, is overdesigned in my opinion.

Simpleydone’s design, layout, and tone captures “you” and seems to be the most honest to representing you.

Again, just my perception of reality.

By: Jason

Jason — Wed, 31 Aug 2005 19:55:10 +0000

“Overdesigning something involves added more when less is needed.”
No question. It all comes back to the first step in the design process: identify the problem that is to be solved. Sometimes, a logo and some text is all that is needed to create a a “great site”.
In the context of web design, the goal of wanting to be a “great site” might be to create something that will be a community-oriented blog, like Metafilter. The text-and-logo format seems to solve the problem of designing a reading/commenting-intensive site.

By: Jesse J. Anderson

Jesse J. Anderson — Wed, 31 Aug 2005 19:25:11 +0000

Actually, what I don’t like about the new ALA is that it DOES look overdesigned.

It seems like they tried too hard for it to look really cool and nice and, honestly, I’m far less interested in the site now then I was before.

By: Yannick

Yannick — Wed, 31 Aug 2005 19:04:54 +0000

“Then it hit me. I was overdesigning. I was trying to go beyond my means.”

So this is what I have been doing wrong all this time.

By: peroty

peroty — Wed, 31 Aug 2005 18:49:42 +0000

Brilliant point. I think you’ve hit the nail on the head in terms of my design and redesign problems. Well, that and I can never get finished with something before I decide it’s crap and I have to start all over again.