A Design is Finished when... 23 Pro Designers' OpinionsListThumbs
A Design is Finished when... 23 Pro Designers' Opinions
One of the most important and hardest things to overcome when designing is to understand when the piece you are designing on is actually finished. while creativity is sometime boundless the end result should always be the result of a clear objective, the end result. I often get caught between creativity and completion and from the emails I've received, I have discovered im not alone .So we asked the experts.
Before the answers I’d like to thank all designers that answered this question. And a special thanks to Justin Maller for the great help. Also we'd love to know your opinion, so leave a question telling us when do you think a design is finished.
Chuck Anderson - http://nopattern.com
When any more would be too much and any less would be too little. Knowing when something is finished comes down to an eye for composition and detail, in my opinion. If I can look at the image and it has good balance and just "feels" right. It's hard to explain, you just kind of know when it's time to stop. Of course, if you're working for a client, it's time to stop when they say it's time to stop!
James White - http://www.signalnoise.com
I see my artwork as one big organic process. If I like elements and methods I developed in previous pieces, I am prone to re-use them again in a different way for a new work. Art is constant exploration, so in a way I am never finished my work. However, when I feel an individual design is going well the best thing to do is close it and step away for a while. I let my eyes rest for an hour or so. When I return to look at it again errors and inconsistancies tend to be very obvious. In the end, if I can look at a piece of my art the next day and it still looks okay, then I'm on the right track. Everyone has to think about their personal workflow to find the proper balance of achieving your goal with a given idea, while not overworking it at the same time.
Justin Maller - http://www.superlover.com.au
I know a piece is finished when I set it as my wallpaper and don't notice any flaws.
Guilherme Marconi - http://brain.marconi.nu/
I always ask myself the same thing, like if it has met my expectations.
It's done when I let my feelings tell me if everything is OK. I use the same thing to choose colors, where to add shadows, and the most important, if the process to get to that point was pleasant and satisfactory. That for me is more important than the end result, and for me, it's done. Then it's just save it and show to my fiance, my main critics.
Collis Ta’eed - http://eden.cc, http://collistaeed.com/
"I know a design is finished when every time I add something or adjust something it seems to get worse. I often create a set of history snapshots of the design trying different things - additions or small alterations - and then show them to my wife - who is also a designer. When we both agree that the original is already complete then I delete the snapshots and stop there. Of course sometimes adding one more element can lead you down a whole other path of design, and I have wound up totally reworking a look. But that's the joy of design, there are always many solutions to a problem!"
Alberto Seveso - http://www.recycledarea.co.uk
well.. i don't know! I'm never sure when a piece is ended or it seems good, I try and risk, but I have a small secret to say, I never look the illustration of forehead when I believe is ready, I tilt my head of 45° on my left side and I look the monitor, if I like from this
position I consider done.
Jeremie Werner - http://www.evasion.cc/
When I think my artwork is finished, I usually put it in an another place for one week. It's important to think to other things, then to look back to your artwork. You may see details you haven't seen before. You may also look at it very close, then very far to see if composition is really working. Another good trick to find composition problems is to flip your image vertical. When flipped, the artwork tends to show easily his problems.
I may also get feedback from other designers friends, but most the time the artwork is something personnal that only you can feel.
Sean Hodge - http://aiburn.com/
A design is finished once it has accomplished the project goals. What those goals are varies depending on the nature of the design project, whether it's client work or personal work, the audience you're targeting, and others. Every project should have criteria that need to be met. Throughout the process you work to meet those criteria. Once they are met, you're done.
You need to build in stages into your design process where you are the critic. If you're a constant skeptic you can't create, but you need to build in time to analyze your design. Ask yourself questions. Is the design interesting? Does it communicate what we're after here? Is the typography legible? Does it meet our goals? Run through a checklist in your head.
A good designer is their own worst critic. Keep in mind though that you need to set reasonable limits on this process based on the end audience, deadline, and project scope. If you're refining details that the audience won't notice, then your pushing unnecessary pixels, and your hindering both your business and your clients.
Bruno Borges - http://OIT8DOI2.com
I think every design when reviewed has some room for improvement. Actually it's true because we can always make it better. When it's possible I review my designs a couple of times to sort of work more on the details, small things that only are revealed when you stop working on that piece for a bit and then get back. So, when the design is literally done is when it meets the client's needs.
Chris Haines - http://neondistractions.com
I think a design is finished - it doesn't mean I am always right - when everything works cohesively and the details hold up from far away, without looking cluttered.
Jeff Huang - http://www.thefifthorder.net
You just know it. You are the artist, so nobody else but you have the right to say that it's finished. I work on my own artwork until I'm 100% satisfied, so I guess I know my piece is finished when I am fully satisfied.
Kai Isselhorst - http://riskshiftlabs.com
I normally throw alot more in my illus then neccessary. After a day or two I start to remove every weak element to give it a perfect look. Its finished when I know that the viewers cant be overexerted by the composition.
Max Spencer - http://www.monostation.co.uk
I'm never 100% happy with any piece I've made, so in my eyes, no piece I have ever made has been finished. There is always more I feel I could do to the design when I look back after a week or two.
Perttu Murto - http://www.perttumurto.com
It's hard to tell when the piece is really finished, because you could fix and fix it forever.. When it looks good and everything is nicely together, you should save it and check it next day. That's how you will notice if there's something still what needs to be fixed.
Joshua Smith
I am finished with a piece when nothing else I add looks good. To me this means the piece isn't finished, it's simply reached my creative limitations.
Nick Delaney - http://www.vandal.nu
I never really feel finished with an art piece. In my opinion all my artwork is an ongoing artwork, and I always seem to refer to my old ones to create another one. Essentially all my art work is one big one, because they all relate to each other one way or another.
Alexander Radsby - http://www.aeform.net
I always overdo my work and usually resort to going back and erase most of it. If I'm still happy with the work the next day then I'll say it's finished, but it could really go on forever.
Bart van Leeuwen - http://www.imallfake.com
A design is finished when satisfied at the moment in doubt what to add next.
Jonathan Wong - http://www.artofwong.com
A design is finished when it communicates your message clearly and concisely.
Kervin Brisseaux - http://www.brisseaux.com
I'm never sure if a design is done unless i take a break from it and don't bother looking at it until the next morning. If what I see the next day puts a smile on my face, then it's done.
Phil Dunne - http://www.lovetherobot.com
As Andy Warhol once said about art, 'If you don't think about it, it's right.' When I start to get goosebumps while I'm working on an illustration, it feels right. That's when I know it's time to stop.
Erik Finsrud - http://www.thenorik.com
My work is normally never finalized till I've received feedback from my peers, they will always see something in a way I haven't. I enjoy involving others in my process.
James Wignall - http://www.mutanthands.com
When the deadline is met.
About the author
My name is Fabio Sasso, I'm a graphic/web designer from Porto Alegre, Brazil and I'm the founder of Abduzeedo. I hope we can share lots of information, tips, and ideas through Abduzeedo. Also you can follow me on Twitter or my personal site at http://fabiosasso.com.
61 Comments
WTF.. Please remove my sentence. It was only a joke posted inside depthcore and it's not related to the topic ;]
I "Stumbled Upon" this just a few hours ago, so it must have been added pretty quickly. I've always wanted to know when my design was finished, and this really helps.
I've always felt that it's important to step away from your work a bit and come back to it and see if you still like it before you can say it's finished. Sometimes your eyes just get used to seeing your work and you can't see the imperfections until you walk away. Glad to see that sentiment is shared among other designers.
A design is finished when: My wife says, "I don't get it?"
"A design is finished once it has accomplished the project goals" and our client wants it!
my site
my blog
thanks!
Great question - even better answers. Thanks. :)
"When the deadline is met."<-- thats funny
When the design matches the way it looked in my dreams, that's how I know when it's done. I usually cant start a project if I haven't had a glimpse of the final piece with it's all-important elements of eureka and fascination. When that vision is held in place the designing stage is complete. The rest of the project is simply the process that is carried out deliberately to reflect the intended creation.
Is this website I designed finally done?: http://www.rejectionism.com
The difference between "art" and "design" is often blurred, and so it should be. However, the idea of finishing a piece of art lies solely with the artist – they are in charge. A piece of design on the other hand, is so often a collaboration of opinion. Client, creative director, colleague opinion, consumer expectations + many more things will effect the outcome. Designers need to make compromises along the way, purely because there is usually a brief to honour. "Finished" in this case is really a consensus that the design is ready to go to market. Well, that's my two cents worth anyway! Great topic.
amazing collection, like always ...but for your blog dude i like it with the green blue orange colors more than the sky space theme now
these aren't designs, just over glorified illustrations. the 80s are back and eye candy is in. none of these designs communicate anything.
usually i did my design in a day with several break.. im finished when my eyes has see a great composition and also a neat work :)
Beautiful, pretty much sums up the way i design.
it would be nice to see a gender balance in your selection of artists / illustrators.
Hmm...I am a fresh designer. Mind to listen to my opinion?
I know a design is finished when:
1. I will ask few of my friends or colleague for the feedback. What they can see from it, hoe they feel or can they get what I want to present? After I give what was in my mind. It is done.
2. can't add anything to the piece of work.
3. I think it is nice enough to be presented to the clients or myself.
Thanks :)
great pictures, they seem 3D...
...when there's nothing left to take away.
Yes, I agree with., its hard to stop of making the right designs with a perfect combination of colors when its personal but when it comes to a client its up for then when you stop. Your blog site is nice! I love it! Good work!
my design is finished when it comes back from the proofreader without typos.
The worst answer, IMHO, is to do what "feels right" without any other reason. Like the opening paragraph says, it should be about meeting the objectives of the project and design. If the "feeling" about the project is that it is a reasonable compromise between functionality, time and design objectives ... then that is a reasonable decision based on measurable factors
The design is done when the client stops screwing up my design by making ridiculous changes.
Like: "Can we make the logo bigger to fill up all that blank space?"
Or: "Change that typeface to Times New Roman"
Or: "Hand me your Pantone swatch book so I can pick the colors for you...."
I am finished with a piece when nothing else I add looks good. To me this means the piece isn't finished, it's simply reached my creative limitations.
My designs are usually finished when the design team internally finds nothing wrong with it, the client is over the moon with it and it still adheres to usability and accessibility standards.
I always say, "when I'm sick of it and don't ever want to see it again!" lol
- http://www.shaverdesign.com
I don't a design is ever "finished." It's flexible, it evolves. Even when printed or posted, it changes depending upon who sees it, and what they see in it. I know, sort of existential BS, but that's what I think....especially when you have to do 17 revisions on something, it's produced, and then there are more changes to be made!
Cool site design. I always liked to design one like this. Hope I can one day???
I've been a commercial designer in the advertising industry for over 30 years and worked on campaigns for global companies. Here's my two cents worth...
Where commercial design is concerned, it's a business. Pure and simple. The objective is to satisfy the client and collect the cheque.
All good designers have a fine-art sense as well which can often conflict with the business aspect of their work. "A work of art is never finished, merely abandoned" - Jean Cocteau, G.B. Shaw, Goethe and Da Vinci. Every good artist will obscess endlessly about their work. Without some kind of restraint it's easy to blow the budget way out of proportion and lose the whole business objective of the excercise. Most good designers are never decided about when their work is finished because as perfectionists they are never totally satisfied with what they've done. Deadlines and business factors force them to conclude their work. Therefore, from an artist's point of view a design is perhaps never finished. From a business point of view, it's finished when the deadline comes and the customer says it's done.
With experience and time it becomes increasingly easy to conclude when a design is finished. Especially if you run your own business, you quickly find solutions to restrain the free willed artist within and provide fast and professional design solutions that fit the client's budget. It then becomes an analytical process to decide when a design is finished... it's done when you've met the criteria and it also meets all aesthetic and other guidelines in your mental check list. The process becomes faster and faster with time. Also with long experience you build a mental library of solutions that can be reused over and over. It sounds cheap, but it's business.
For those looking to understand just simply "when is a design finished" from a creative point of view... it's finished when the designer decides it's finished. There are certain industry technical guidelines for aesthetics etc. that a design can be judged by, but even those boundaries are pushed by designers all the time. Art is not an exact science. Value judgements about all art is driven by fashion trends, consumer opinions and a multitude of other factors. So it's up to the designer to either follow the trends or to break the rules as they see fit and to decide themselves when the criteria have been sufficiently met.
Cheers, Osku
... in addition... I'm a little puzzled why the discussion is about "design" while you've chosen to show fantastic "illustrators"? "Design" generally encompasses and refers to all aspects of a commercial campaign which includes copy writing, typography, layout and of course graphics and images. If you're referring to design overall it would be great to see some sites by great font designers, typographers and advertising campaign geniuses, logo and corporate image designers... and so on. I guess the use of the term "design" is a little blurry here.
Cheers, Osku
Wow!come from digg.com and very beautiful!
I have to digg this!
very useful and interesting article ! thanks a lot!
Commercially, a design is finished when your work gets back from the press and it's in the clients hand, never sooner.
It's ready to go to press once it meets the goals of client communication, has been proofed, checked and changed as per standards of the client, never sooner.
Art is a different animal than design altogether; the artist is a slave to themselves, the worst client you can have and the best as well. You know when you are done, but you must direct yourself to trust in that part of you that knows not to "make the logo bigger" (figuratively).
Can design be art? Yes. Can art be designed? Yes.
Are they one and the same? Hardly ever. Hardly ever.
a really helpful site which helps in harnessing one's skills.
Beautiful, pretty much sums up the way i design.
Many miss the difference between “art” and “design”. Artworks can be anything, from a simple drawing to a complex 3d illustration. It’s in the artists hands what you’ll see and he decides when an artwork’s finished.
Design has to be practicable, straight and KISSed (keep it simple and smart, or whatever description you like ;P). Design hast to fulfil a client’s needs but also the customer, the users of whatever is designed. Design is not restriced to a website, design is everything, even a coffee machine has to be “designed”, its look, its functions, its simplicity.
Anyways, nice to see how others think about the “finished” thing. :)
Beautiful designs!! really talented people who made them. Hope I could ever make graphics like this.
Thanks for the list. I like the examples of work.
great !
i really like the this great work.Thanks to Fabio Sasso.
it would be nice to see a gender balance in your selection of artists / illustrators.
thanx you nice text
I like this wonderfull art.
great article!
Thank You very nice topic
ometimes your eyes just get used to seeing your work and you can't see the imperfections until you walk away. Glad to see that sentiment is shared among other designers.
The design is done when the client stops screwing up my design by making ridiculous changes.
Like: "Can we make the logo bigger to fill up all that blank space?"
Or: "Change that typeface to Times New Roman"
Or: "Hand me your Pantone swatch book so I can pick the colors for you...."
Beautiful designs!! really talented people who made them. Hope I could ever make graphics like this.
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?ncredible collection, as usual ...but for your blog dude i like it with the green blue orange colors more than the sky space theme now
http://search.msn.com.tr/results.aspx?q=http%3A%2F%2Ftelefondinleme.net&...
Try looking at it in the mirror. Things always look strange when reflected because we're not used to seeing that angle. Any 'imbalance' in the composition will be so much more noticeable!
I "Stumbled Upon" this just a few hours ago, so it must have been added pretty quickly. I've always wanted to know when my design was finished, and this really helps.
Nice work ,great collection. Thanks for the share.
Hi,
Thanks for this good topic.
We miss your next topic.
tghankss youu
I "Stumbled Upon" this just a few hours ago, so it must have been added pretty quickly. I've always wanted to know when my design was finished, and this really helps.
I've always felt that it's important to step away from your work a bit and come back to it and see if you still like it before you can say it's finished. Sometimes your eyes just get used to seeing your work and you can't see the imperfections until you walk away. Glad to see that sentiment is shared among other designers.
Boy I hear you on that one. totally awesome work. Thanks for sharing.
http://www.ronmcbride.com
W H I T E S P A C E | DESIGN
I've always felt that it's important to step away from your work a bit and come back to it and see if you still like it before you can say it's finished. Sometimes your eyes just get used to seeing your work and you can't see the imperfections until you walk away. Glad to see that sentiment is shared among other designers.
Sometimes your eyes just get used to seeing your work and you can't see the imperfections until you walk away. Glad to see that sentiment is shared among other designers.
Great all this pics..
A design is finished when the designer losses interested in it.
I'm really very useful to follow a long-time see this as a blog here Thank you for your valuable information.
thnx impressed with your efforts and the big community you having with jquery. no doubt jquery is the best. i am using prototype and i am casus telefon dinleme
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