When I start a wireframe or a design from scratch using software on a computer I very often find myself trodding down the same old path of common agreed structures and layouts I have seen so many times before. I very often think in boxes, every piece of content being within its own little square. I wonder why it can sometimes be so limiting using these tools? Is it because of my background as a Typographer that I just like to think in grids, or is there any other reason for this behaviour?

Knight in a shining armour

Once the first computer with a GUI that started the “DTP revolution” arrived, the big promise was that this would revolutionise design itself, freeing us from all the constrains of the hitherto very limited analogue printing and breaking the chains of what was technically doable using printing techniques of the time. This has partly happened, yet it seems that computers now impose their own new constraints upon us. But are these real constraints or is it more of a mental issue?

Isn’t a computer the ultimate tool to empower us designers? Wasn’t software for creatives the catalyst for even better design, the big thing to unleash all of our creativity once and for all? The bicycle for our minds? Then why do we let ourselves be encumbered or even limited by software?

Kūkai and his brushes

I think it comes down to how and when we use certain tools. Every tool we use has its limitations. Some of these limitations we can overcome by creatively using the tool in new and different ways (holding a fountain pen with the nib upside down to get a thinner and sharper line e.g.), but it all comes down to how straightforward the usage of the tool and also how straightforward the “creative” usage of the tool is.

The problem lies in the fact that most software is not so straightforward to use in the first place. Also doing first layouts and roughs with software often puts our brain into some right brain mode of logical thinking and analysis, because in order to use the software we have to act logically step by step and breakdown what actions to take in order to create whatever we want to do. At the early stage of rough layouts and drafting this is however highly undesirable. We don’t want our brain to worry about whether some crazy idea we might have is technically doable at all.

Due to the nature of computers and screens we most of the time have to deal with squares and rectangles to put text and images into, so we unconsciously start thinking in squares and rectangles without noticing.

The Japanese have a saying about Kūkai (post humously known in Japan as Kōbō-Daishi), who is said to be one of the greatest Japanese calligraphers of all times.

「弘法筆を選ばず」(Kōbō doesn’t choose his brush).

Many say that this means, if you have a level of mastery like Kōbō, you can draw with anything and make it a masterwork, regardless of the tool. That is one aspect of the saying, but there’s also a famous quote of him where he actually complains about having only a bad brush and so he couldn’t really write as well as he’d liked. So which is it?

To me the whole issue seems to be more of a matter of mindset. Kōbō wouldn’t let his work be constrained just by thinking about the tool to use upfront. If you do that, you already give in to the perceived potential and possibilities of the tool, so you won’t even try to go beyond it.

That’s why we end up thinking in boxes if we work with common frame based layout programmes, or even with Photoshop where you all too often end up working with some kind of square or rectangle that defines your tool. And all to often we don’t even consider doing things we know are hard to realise with the software we know.

Even in the 21st century handicraft is essential

One of our least limited and most immediate tools we have at our disposal are our hands. So I highly recommend—no matter how adept you are with your software—do scribbles with a pencil, jot down a few sketches for a page layout, free yourself from the frames and boxes and other constrictions of software. Go crazy and think about doability of your design much later. It’s very liberating and it can also help you to extend your skillset, because you might be facing new limits of the software to be overcome in order to realise your hand drawn design.

What if you can’t draw?

Yes there are designers, who say they can’t draw. Really. I say, everybody can draw. People who seem to be able to draw just by predisposition, actually have been drawing often and with pleasure from early childhood. So that maybe it’s not necessarily in the genes, but they simply had decades of unremitting practise, it just doesn’t feel like they’ve worked that hard to get there, because when you’re a child nothing is hard work, you just dedicate yourself 100% to everything you do in a very playful manner.

So if you can’t draw: yes you can! All you need is practice. Really. Free your mind and in order to do so free your hands (by enabling them through practice).

One trick pony? Get another pony!

So here we are with our newest design, totally innovative and absolutely crazy. You’ve tried to do it in Photoshop, but somehow there seems to be no way to get even close to your initial rough sketches.

Where is it written that you have to start and end in one piece of software? You can create part of it in Illustrator, better even use real brushes and paint, scan it in and go crazy with it in Photoshop. Then you might do something in a 3D application and import that into Photoshop, or use Quartz Composer to find a new way of modifing your artwork. I’ve been using Create just for some really interesting effects on objects and text while keeping the text editable and then I’ve been pulling that graphic into other applications (and thanks to the power of LinkBack you can even edit the original afterwards).

There is no monogamy in software and you use and combine whatever does the job. If you’ve ever worked in video editing you’ll know how creative people get with achieving just the right effect. Runnig a certain screensaver on OS X, capturing that from the monitor-out for a cool motion backdrop for another animation is just one example of doing whatever it takes for the job at hand.

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