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designs blog
Website design is like desserts
I’m currently on vacation in Peru and had one of those moments that translated from my world of graphic design to the real world. I’ve always heard the KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid) principal and how it should apply to graphic design, and now I have proof on how it applies to other things as well.
After enjoying a sumptuous meal at a Chinese restaurant a block away from our hostel in Cusco (sidenote: I know, why eat Chinese food in Peru, right?), we decided to go grab some dessert. There was a local bakery shop with a wide array of options: a layered sandwichlike dessert with chocolate, creme and coconut sprinkles; a cone with crunchy sweet outside and gooey inside; a rolled up dessert with some sort of seasoned apple filling and sprinkles on the top; another with crazy colors … and yet another that just looked like a normal puffy bread. We bought one of each (they were all around $0.30 apiece, so why not). The absolute best dessert was the most normal looking one. The normal puffy bread had some simple not-too-sweet creme filling and it was absolutely delectable in its simplicity. The rest were just trying to do too much. We’ve gone back multiple times and gotten many the puffy desserts. Big fans. What ultimately worked was the basics. Stick with the basics and you’ll have satisfied customers. Get out of the way of the great flavors that don’t need to be jazzed up in order for people to enjoy them.
So yes, this circles back to website design (and logo design, print design, all design ultimately); so many graphic designers try to do too much: they throw on the sprinkles and fancy colors and extra flavors when ultimately all they need to do is to get out of the way and let the light, fluffy pastry and creme do all the work. The trick to design is to find what works for each project and remove everything that doesn’t.
One Response to “Website design is like desserts”
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Great point.