I recently had the opportunity to attend a data visualization course taught by Edward Tufte. It was just as nerdy as it sounds, and I loved every moment of it. Though it’s not often that I work with large sets of data, the principles covered in the course can be applied to other areas of design.

My biggest takeaway of the day: “The beauty is not in the design elements, but the data itself.”

*gasp*

Wait, a designer just said the beauty is not in the design?!

Well, hold on. Let me explain.

Good design should be intuitive. Good design should make the content sing. Design can and should be beautiful, but content is king. What Tufte meant was that oftentimes clients are asking us to “make the design pop,” which they think means add more colors and some drop shadows and maybe even give it a cool embossed effect and some icons?! In reality, those kinds of elements are amateur decorations and not intentional design decisions that enhance and amplify the content. Elements like that tend to cause the viewer to spend more time decoding the design rather than absorbing the information. That’s not what we’re going for.

If we’re going to add more colors, how about we find a suite that feels in line with your brand and strengthens your tone/message? If we’re going to add icons, let’s only use them sparingly so that they become effective navigation tools when a viewer is scanning the piece. Our end goal is to create something that is simple, smart, and beautiful that respects your audience and their time.

If you have found the end result of a piece you’ve designed falls a little flat without all the implied jazz hands you were going for, it’s possible your content has not been thoroughly considered. If the content itself is not compelling, piling on the glitter will not help you achieve your goals.

So before you even begin your project, you have to know those goals. Understand the message. Plan your strategy.

And if you don’t have those things in place, let us know and we can help.