‘Limits imposed on the work we do ultimately influence our work’s form’
David Sudweeks, writing for FontShop:
Seeing how an entire subgenre of design grew out of a set of constraints further opened my eyes to the idea that the look and function of our work is largely a matter of the defaults we accept. And that learning to recognize the previously unconscious decisions we make both frees us and constrains us to use and invent new processes and to be aware of the effects of our choosing.
Emphasis mine. David goes on, in separate posts, to explain his InDesign defaults.
Designers have a love-hate relationship with frameworks – they save time, they make us careless – but personal frameworks give us the best of both worlds. If we’ve carefully considered each of the defaults in our go-to codebases and project templates, it’s easier to make custom adjustments for individual projects.
Shared by Tim Brown on July 18, 2014.
Topics: Intended use