This week I was given my first assignment: a social media design based around one company’s website. Because it was difficult to find a jumping-off point, my first completed design was ultra simple; I had the company tag line and phone number as the only text, a graphic from the website as the focus of the design, and a background color to match the color scheme of the website. I wasn’t sure where to take the design further, so I decided to schedule my critique early.

Expecting a little disappointment from my superiors about the simplicity of my design, I was surprised when my critique went well. As it turns out, they appreciated the cleanness of my design because it was easier to critique. Most of the necessary changes came in simple additions (such as drop shadows and gradients) and these few modifications were finished sooner than expected. This gave me so much more time to work with new designs without worrying about deadlines.

I can speak from experience that adding elements to a clean design takes about a quarter of the time that it does when subtracting elements from a cluttered design. I’m thankful for this lesson, so that any future projects will be simpler (and faster) to both create and revise.

By: Gracie Battle