Make It Simple

Please hold the line while I overthink this.

That’s what the voice in my head says to me whenever I need to make a decision about something visual.

I think this is why designers exist.

Not necessarily because they have better taste, but because they know how to turn a vague notion into something you can see. The best designers don’t only understand how to make something visually pleasing from your “I just want it to look pretty and I like these type of flowers” gibberish.

They know how to figure out what bothers you without having to redo the whole image over and over again.

The only way I know how to figure out what bothers me and make something look better is just to methodically try everything. I do the visual equivalent of moving the furniture to every conceivable position in the room in order to figure out what looks best.

My designer friend doesn’t have to move all the furniture all the time. He can ask things like “how do you use the space and show me three rooms you like” and then take the key parts of those things and make them into something new that fits my room. It’s like magic. It only took 40 years of practice.

I don’t want to wait 40 years to have things look better. So I ask him.

The one thing I have learned from him, though, is that things look better the simpler they are.

The more stuff you have in a room or in a picture, the more stuff you have to tidy up and visually fit together.

So, for pictures and for rooms, the first step to making them look good is to remove all the stuff.

Make it simple.

Then add one detail.

That’s it.