Design is an integral part of the human experience. How we style our hair, what we wear, what our devices look like and more is fundamentally influenced by our preferences in design. And because not all humans are the same, design is a vast and free-flowing field that makes sure everyone, from moms to children, find a design that is pleasing to the eye.
You’ve probably heard the term “psychology of design” before. Believe it or not, this is the underlying idea that is the foundation for all design choices, from major companies to individuals who sell custom-made vinyl wraps for consoles and other electronic devices. So what is it?
The Psychology of Design
The psychology of design is an intuitive approach to design, but it can be applied in a straightforward way. Basically, it is the application of known psychological relationships that humans have to certain things, such as colors or symbols, to the world of marketing and design. By using the psychological principles to influence a design, you can encourage a variety of feelings or emotions.
If it sounds like a powerful idea, that’s because it is. The use of color, shapes, symbols, and other psychological laws ensures that you pay attention to a marketing campaign or a product. It is an incredible tool, and if you know what to look for, you can see the psychology of design all around you.
Originality and Creativity in Design
While psychology is a great tool for design, what about originality and creativity? Are they the same thing, or are they different? How do they influence design?
Originality and creativity are not the same. Originality is a concept where you create from nothing for no purpose other than to see that idea come to life. Creativity is the process where you identify a problem and generate solutions that meet the requirements of the problem.
In this case, both can influence the design, but creativity is favored over originality. This is because designs are created to be useful, purposeful, and beautiful. While originality may come up with brilliant ideas, creativity will certainly have great ideas that solve any design problem at hand.
Why We Love Certain Designs
Have you ever wondered why people react to some designs in certain ways? There’s a reason for that. As humans, we have a specific set of reactions to colors and symbols, and the psychology of design principles show us that we have that reaction no matter where we see those design attributes.
For example, when we see a picture of a sun, the happiness we feel is caused by color theory, which states that yellow represents sunniness, happiness, and joy. Another example would be when we see a big stop sign — the red color makes us alert, and we contribute the sharp edges of the hexagon as a warning, so we sit up and take notice.
And while many of us have very specific reactions to designs, the majority of people will have similar reactions to a wide set of images. That’s why marketing firms use all the principles of design to their best of their ability — to get as many of us interested as possible in what they have to say.
What Makes Designs Unique?
What makes a design unique could be a variety of factors, such as font combinations, logos, and more, but mainly it is the pattern of location and symbols as well as colors. Because we cannot help but have the same reaction to colors or symbols, a lot of unique design is the juxtaposition of the attributes.
However, in recent years, the vibrant use of color in patterns has created some amazing designs. The use of different hues and in unusual combinations, especially on custom-made skins for personal items has exploded, leaving consumers with new and exciting images that are a great addition to their own style. A great example would be phone wraps and laptop wraps. This goes beyond applying stickers to your laptop and creates more of a “theme”.
Design and color have always gone hand-in-hand, and now that consumers can buy or have custom made designs made for nearly everything they own, the relationship between the two is beginning to show off people’s originality. And as far as design goes, an original and creative design is the only design worth showing off.
Photo Credit: www.webeden.co.uk
Bio –
This guest post was made by MightySkins, a company specializing in vinyl skins such as drone wraps with hundreds of designs to choose from.