Does Great Design Break All the Rules?
I recently saw a tweet from Tobias van Schneider, Co-CEO & Creative Director at Carbonmade.
“To me,” he said, “a true designer is a rebel. A creative, a rule breaker. Someone who can’t be confined, which is why the decided to take part in this profession.”
“Yet today,” he continued, “the new designer is the opposite. Following rules, adhering to systems, guided by templates and guidelines.”
I've got one word for him. Nope.
Here at Slide UX, we’d tell you that the "I'm a rebel, I'm a creative, I'm a rule breaker" vibe is past its prime.
Design is a team sport, and a healthy team uses guidelines so design and development can do better work, faster. They improve upon rules, guidelines, and systems together, but never just for the sake of breaking rules.
Novelty is a tool, but it’s not the right tool for every part of the job. When we’re designing things that other people will use to get stuff done, creativity and rule-breaking is not an end unto itself.
When users encounter conventional that are familiar, interactions are typically more clear and the interface is easier to use. The objective is to make the user’s experience easier and more clear, not "more creative."
You may want to boldly break convention in your branding, your messaging or your photography, but when you’re hiring a user interface designer, look out for the rebel-creative, rule-breaker type. They may produce brilliant work, personally. But how will the team scale if they pride themselves on working against the group?