Next Big

What the Emigre 39 essay by Rudy VanderLans called The Next Big Thing is really saying is that designers let their egos get in the way of solving the problem.

Ones personal aesthetics and style almost never actually meet the design needs of a particular situation. We think we know what our client wants before we even hear the issue. I think that the problem is lack of listening skills.

I believe that people can hear you without listening, and I believe that this is what designers are doing with the Internet and with the printed word. They say “to hell with what you want, this is what I know.” This is not design. This is ego.

Listening skills would solve so many of the design problems today. When I say listening skills, I mean visual attention skills as well. When people are able to pay enough attention to the printed word or to a meaningful layout, designers will take the time to do more than WOW or SHOCK. They will allow the dialogue to unfold between viewer and designer and writer.

I feel very sorry for writers today. We cut their words and make them illegible. The typefaces we use are smaller and smaller. We make it impossible for the reader to understand what is going on, and we call it good design.

As VanderLans said, we are always striving for The Next Big Thing, but I think that we also strive to find Our Thing. So many people try to assert their style, their wisdom on to their work, but a designer is supposed to cooperate. We have constraints and we have possibilities, but the constraints are where we must find opportunity. Otherwise, we might as well be fine artists.