Magnificent examples of applied constraint are Rogie King and Tim Boelaars. In an interview with Rogie, he says, “Give yourself a limitation.” You can see this in his shot, The Essentials of A Day in Disneyland Illustration, on Dribbble. By limiting use of certain colors he created wicked elements that fit well together. Had he used a different palette on any one element, then the work would seem off a bit. Tim applies the constraint of using one line weight, but don’t be fooled by this simple limit. Armed with one line weight, Tim builds amazing illustrations that are easy to discern. And we all know the easier something appears, the harder it actually was to make simple… it appears simple because he took the time to solve the problems which then communicates those elements to us easily.

How do you add constraints to a project? You can develop these as you listen to find the problems you are trying to solve. What limits could you apply to help you reach a solution? A company wants a consistent look using colors from their logo as you build their website. Determine which colors compliment and ground each other using the color wheel. Now, the somewhat difficult part; stick to those colors no matter what! Adhere to your constraints. Keep in mind when you’re developing your constraints they are also just an iteration. So don’t stumble over which ones to make… just make a few and try to apply them. If they’re not working out, then iterate to make new constraints.

Too often I’ll want to add to a design to make it better when in fact I should try to figure out what I can take away. Improving the work by applying the limits I first set forth to build the project. Referring to the constraints potentially makes the decision-making a lot easier. They should be a constant go-to in order to ensure your design is on the right track. Always seek the approval of your constraints; albeit a bit annoying, this referee will help you play out your design by abiding to your rules.

Are you up for the challenge? Then throw down some constraints and create within them on your next project. It’s amazing how much you can build by applying limits.

I’m not trying to suck up or be a gigantic cheeseball. I want to give credit to a batch of awesomes that need to know they are my heroes.

@joshuamilford

This obsessive-complusive maniac loves design and programming. We bounce ideas every day to create projects. Extremely motivating and knows how to ship.

@joshuafantastic

An amazing designer. Picks up the phone to tolerate my newfound love of typography. Countless discussions on design.

@scrivs

The man behind Drawar. This beast provides a wonderful platform for us to learn and discuss design and is a prolific writer.

@cliffpro

Cliff invited me to Drawar and has given me honest feedback with my projects. He brings a refreshing attitude to design and user experience.

@jimmynotjim

He wrote this amazing post; thanks others and has a passion for details which is seen in his work. Also drafted me to Dribbble.

@jeffgoins

Some of the most honest writing you’ll ever read. A genuine mastermind who knows how to motive people.

There you have it. A few of my heroes. If you’re not on my brief list, then please know I’m not trying to draw lines.

Let’s have some reciprocity. Take the time to tell your heroes they are your heroes. They deserve it.

“What!?” I asked in disbelief.

“Yeah, I couldn’t find a wrench at the store to do the job, so I made my own.”

I always remember that because it helped me see why my Dad is so good at his job. He does whatever it takes to get it done effeciently and in the right way. Even if it requires making a tool.

Over the years, I noticed I do many of the same tasks. Sure, some programs automate them, but many don’t do the job correctly. Furthermore, the programs might not be available everywhere I work. Therefore, I’ve written my own tools to keep at tadfry.com. They’re simple, but save time and are available everywhere I have Internet.

Here’s a few of them:

• tadfry.com/clean
• tadfry.com/html
• tadfry.com/random/100

They’re probably not intuitive to most users, but they’re for my own use. I know what they do, and they help me tremendously. One I found extremely helpful was tadfry.com/ratio/200. Thinking it might be useful to others, I made getratio.com.

So, I hope you’ll make your own wrench. It frees up your time and mind to save your brain for creative work. I’d love to see what you make, so please share on Twitter @tadfry.

The question of how to be a better designer surfaces often on Forrst. We want to know which books to get or tutorials to read. A reply I found most useful was when a member said there is not a single book that will help us become better designers overall, but we need to get many books on single topics. Then drill down to learn as much as we can. That advice motivated me to get a typography book, and I’m amazed by how much there is to know on type.

To find which typography book to read, I did a search on college design programs to discover many classes use Thinking with Type by Ellen Lupton. The book is magnificent—No, those are not affiliate links. Lupton teaches how to use type, and does so with inspiring references and has an amazing sense of humor. Reading this helped me to see why some uses of type look so well done while other uses look awkward. I could never discern this a few months ago.

So, where to go from here. I highly recommend you pick a topic about design and focus on it. Dig deep. Here’s a few suggestions of topics you could read about:

1. Grid
2. Typography
3. Sketching
4. Color

Overall, I find this wonderfully annoying. I want to grow as a designer, but now I’ve found there is so much more I don’t know. Yes, I understand we’ll never know everything, but that’s what sets well-designed work a part from the so-so work. It was created by those who took the time to learn and apply individual elements of design.

We of course take composition in high school & college, and are shown the ropes of how to use logos, pathos, and ethos to write essays. It’s valuable information, but what I found most useful was discovering a simple, yet amazing, format that fosters prolific and meaningful writing.

The course was Communication Theory at Baldwin-Wallace College, taught by Dr. Mary C. Toale. We wrote a paper each week based on a theory we wanted to discuss. She provided the following format to help us achieve that goal:

1. Select a theory and introduce it (First paragraph).
2. Build on it or argue for/against it (Next 3 paragraphs).
3. Conclude (Last paragraph).

That format helped me stay focused and get to the point. Those elements were important to me when I decided I wanted to write more often. I want to share what I know very quickly, and hopefully others will find it useful.

If you want to write more material and more often, then I highly recommend this format. Choose your topic, find how you can introduce it, discuss it within 3 paragraphs (focused), and then conclude. Sure, there are times where you’ll need an extra paragraph or two, but try to exercise restraint because it can lead to slim and solid writing.

My obsession began when I couldn’t decide which action to do next on my Next Actions list. All priorities were equal, and I was wasting time debating on which item to complete. So, I rolled the dice and the decision was made for me. Yes, I’m aware this was ridiculous, but it was fun and kept me moving. Not to mention, I couldn’t wait to complete the task so I could roll again.

Now, if you’re like me, your Next Actions list is well over a dozen items. We must not leave out the tasks after the twelfth item; therefore, (yes, I know I’m insane), I wrote code that will give a random number from one to a max number I input using mt_rand. My glorious random machine was working, but something bothered me. How in the world did mt_rand do its job? Considering programming is so binary, how did it give me a random number? I learned it’s pseudo-random. Upon putting that knowledge in my brain, I attempted to write my own random function, but for now it’s just heads or tails. I might expand it a bit, but I like its simplicity and that I made it without using a library. If I need anything more than a coin flip, I’ll use mt_rand.

Aside from taking care of my insanity, there’s other fun uses with random. As you’re sketching, roll a random number to decide how many limits you are going to force with how many points, lines, planes, shading, or texture you get to use. Draw some monsters, and roll to figure how many eyes, mouths, and legs are going to be on it.

A more practical approach is to use mt_rand, array_rand, or MySQL RAND(), to pull in different content to your website. Appropriate content could be a homepage image, testimonials, quotes, facts, and tweets. I wouldn’t apply random to your navigation because it might annoy users. But adding random to some of your other elements can make your website live; an amazing-living-random creature.

I hope you’ll add some random to your next project, or at least during your creative process. If you do, then please share your progress with me on Twitter, @tadfry. I’d love to see your work. My next project is heavily based on random, and I can’t wait to release it!

Just write. And remember to write for fun. It’s great to have people read your work. The feedback and learning you get from readers is awesome. But remember that you are writing for yourself as well. When you disconnect a bit and write for the sake of writing, it is really enjoyable.

If you simply can’t bring yourself to write, then take the time to be inspired. This is ridiculously important. When you are not inspired then do things that motivate you. Reading articles definitely gets your creative gears going. Furthermore, consider reading The Writer’s Manifesto by Jeff Goins; a wonderful book that is certain to straighten you up from your creative slump—a must read for every writer. Always have notes handy while reading so you can write ideas. Then take those ideas to create topics that you can add to your topics list.

A topics list? Yes, always keep a topics list. Then you’ll never have an excuse for not having anything to write about. It’s freeing to have a list you can always pull from to start your next article. Having trouble deciding which topic? Roll dice and that decision will be made for you. The number you roll determines which topic you’re going to write about from your numbered list. Don’t have dice? Use my Dice Roller—no excuses.

There you have it, don’t make the same mistake I did. Keep writing. Stop reading this, go write.

It’s important to collect inspiration so you can reference it during a creative slump. Motivation kicks in as you reflect on work that made you look twice. Furthermore, it’s an awesome puzzle trying to solve what’s inspiring about the item that… inspired you. Which fonts, colors, copy, alignment, textures, made the piece punch you in the face and say, “Hey, look how awesome I am!”

You need a place to store this inspiration. Flickr, WordPress, or Tumblr could be used. Make sure whatever you choose has a way to handle the different types of items you want to collect. Are you just collecting images? Or do you want to capture inspirational text as well? Ensure you tag & title your items so you can find them easily as your library grows.

What you use to catch your inspiration depends on the types of items you collect. If you only want to collect signs, then your camera phone will do fine. Screenshots will work as well. And then there’s the obvious, copy & paste text or images. Whichever you decide, make sure it’s insultingly easy to put what you catch into your library. Have a specific camera application on your phone automatically upload to Flickr. Send quotes or text to a designated e-mail address. Or simply have everything go to your blog to handle the different types of inspiration.

Here’s some examples if you’re a visual person like me. The Drawar Collections are awesome and are broken down by category. Rogie King dedicates a tag for inspiration on his blog, and has great commentary on what inspires him. I’ve started collecting Logos & Trademarks and Signs on Flickr, but I think a blog might be best so I can put quotes and text as well.

I seriously want you to act on this. Do it. It ends up being a great meta game to your day, and you’ll always have a reference that personally inspires you. Share your findings with your friends to begin design discussions. Give yourself exercises with what you find; recreate the elements to dissect the design choices that went into building the work. Have fun collecting and learning from your inspiration.

The question, “Should designers know how to code?”, is the wrong one to ask. Rather, I feel we should be asking, “Why shouldn’t designers want to know how to code?” If you’re a designer, and your work is going to be on the web, then why would you not want to know how to make your work better?

Your goal as a designer should be to help people. The purpose of design is to assign meaning to objects so people can understand them. So, if we’re blessed with a language (HTML) that assigns meaning to our objects, then why do you not want to know that language?

Great job making that awesome website. It looks fantastic! But have you considered that not everyone can see it? Will a screen reader be able to read your work? How portable is your design if it’s not properly coded for importing into other services like Instapaper or other readers? Your website isn’t the only place where your content can live. But if you don’t learn how to code, then your content is dead… and its sole resting place is the cemetery that you call your website.

If you haven’t figured it out by now… my answer is yes. Designers, especially those whose work is going online, need to know how to code. Knowing how to write semantic HTML is another tool you can exploit to make more effective work.

A common rebuttal is that you work in a team where you design, and you have a developer who writes the appropriate code. You should still have an understanding of how your design is going to be coded. Sit alongside your developer and ask them what you could do with your design to make it more code-friendly. It will improve your work, and be a tremendous benefit to who you design for in the first place, your users.

To understand dissonance, it helps to first know what consonance is. Consonance is when you feel comfortable with your beliefs; a certain harmony exists with how you’re feeling right now. You feel good. Dissonance occurs when something comes along and disrupts your consonance. It challenges your beliefs and makes you feel uncomfortable. You feel bad, or think to yourself, what the crap is going on?

So, why should you know about dissonance and consonance? How does this relate to design and writing? Because they are key ingredients of Cognitive Dissonance; one of my favorite theories by Leon Festinger. Put simply, this theory claims that we always want to reach consonance when we experience dissonance. May the persuasive madness begin!

With our writing and designs, we often try to convince people to use our solutions. To help persuade them, design with dissonance to challenge beliefs, and then introduce your service as a way to make people reach consonance.

A nice example is Paul Scrivens’ essay, You Are Not A Designer And I Am Not A Musician. I love this essay, and many designers have shared it with their peers. He disrupted our consonance, which created dissonance. He challenged our beliefs. He blatantly wrote that you are not a designer. But in the midst of your dissonance, Paul offered a solution. One that you could choose to bring you back to consonance. Cognitive dissonance at its finest. Yes, you could simply dismiss the attempt at dissonance that Paul tried, but keep in mind the theory is still working. You wanted to keep with your beliefs and feel comfortable.

Here’s another example. Let’s say a bank wants you to design an ad that convinces people to save more money. Some people feel they save enough, but here’s something you could do to disrupt their beliefs. Put a tiny piggy bank on the ad. Next to the piggy bank, put a large hog (designed like a piggy bank) with the bank’s logo next to it. Then place the following text, “Stop saving in a piggy bank. We help you save like a hog.” People see the familiar piggy bank, and potential dissonance is created when seeing the “Stop saving in a piggy bank.” The hog with the bank’s logo is a possible solution to their dissonance of not saving enough, which would bring them back to consonance.

Hopefully I got your feet wet with this theory, and I encourage you to look into it a bit more on your own; overall, the theory is more involved than my introduction. But that’s the beauty of it. The different degrees of dissonance can offer new ways to make your next design. Try adding it to just a headline or element of your work for starters. Be careful not to insult, you simply want to challenge beliefs, and offer your solution as a way to help people.