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Lessons Along the Way
Designing is definitely a process. The idea for this whole video came to me in the shower one morning. I could see the end result in my mind and I worked hard to make it match what I envisioned in my head. However, through my process I wound up making a lot of changes. I originally started with the logo as particles in Particular that would do a little bounce at the end. The more I worked on it, I realized it wasn’t quite working, so I started simplifying the project to it’s final state.
Each project has its own challenges and things to learn from it. Sometimes you learn new things about different aspects of the design process or a specific program. Sometimes you learn about yourself and how you work on projects, which can lead to being more efficient on future projects. Don’t underestimate any projects, enjoy them, and always seek to learn as much as you can from each of them.
Principles of Design
This project was pretty simple. Now when I say simple, in no way do I mean it was easy. Regardless, I learned a few things and have some good take aways:
- Less is More. Simplicity is great. Many times people look at a design and they often ask what else they can add to make things look cooler. This seems like a good thought process, but design is really about stripping things down to the essentials and effectively communicating what needs to be said. While adding seems like it will make the project more stylish, it can actually take away from the end result. This project was very simple, and that’s exactly what it needed to be effective. On simple projects, it’s very tempting to add something else to make the project more visually appealing. There were times where I would add something as a test, but would just wind up removing it since it wasn’t adding value. It was just a shiny thing I was adding because “I thought it needed more.” If you ever come a cross a situation where you’re tempted to add more, ask yourself if what you’re adding is essential to the project’s end result.
- Focus on the details. When you come across a simple project, you can approach it two ways. One, you can just put everything together quickly and get it done or two, you can give yourself the same amount of effort that you’d give to a larger scale project. This project only really had repeated layers in Z space and a few text layers. Once I got everything in place, I took time to really nail down the animation and critique things fame by frame. This type of project allows you to get the quality you desire and tweak things to perfection.