09 December 2009 ~ View Comments

Design is CRAP!

Graphic Design Naseeha (Advice)

Don’t be upset all you graphic designers out there. I have a point to this.

I picked up a nice little book called The Non-Designer’s Design Book by Robin Williams (no, not the actor).

A basic and fundamental thing I learned from it, is that

graphic design is nothing but CRAP!

That is…

Contrast – If two things are supposed to be different, make them drastically different.

Repitition – To keep things looking like they’re all part of the same thing, repeat certain elements.

Alignment – Everything on a page should be aligned with something else.

Proximity – Make things that are similar in topic closer together.

I’m still reading through it (almost done). It features many, many visual examples to see. The above information is basically the first half of the book (but it goes into more detail), and the second half deals with type (as in the styles of type and what goes with what), but also includes different things like the theory of color, designing specific things (like newsletters, business cards, etc.). The author, Robin Williams, has many other books out there. I hope that my next read on this subject will be her book The Non-Designer’s Type Book, InshaAllah.

As regards to my thoughts on the book, I definitely recommend it to any Islamic worker that’s in the business of Da’wah. It gives a very good, basic awareness of design elements so that your next Masjid lecture’s flyer looks a little better than a white page made with NotePad.

Too many valuable programs have been undiscovered by attendees due to the lack of Ihsaan in the marketing. When it comes to Da’wah, you always go for the absolute best.

An example of this would be during the Hijrah of the Prophet (sallalahu ‘alayhi wasallam), when he went from Makkah to Madinah; with him he took Abu Bakr and a guide he’d hired. The guide was the best of all the guides he could find, and he was non-Muslim. The Prophet knew that this would be the most important journey in his life, and so he accordingly hired the absolute best based on that importance.

So, in Da’wah we must always do things in the best of manners. After all, you are spreading the best of deens (religions).

Any other helpful design tips or recommended resources? Have any thoughts? Leave a comment, why don’t ya?

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  • ya I heard about that concept and book before from Sh.Muhammad Alshareef, the CRAP is a good concept.

    very simple to implement too.
  • Hmm...Alhamdulillah, it must be a pretty well-known book then. I just saw it at the library and was intrigued. And what's really cool about how the book lays out the concept is that you immediately begin seeing the CRAP in designs all around you. I even started implementing it (hence the way I typed up this post, and the new one I just wrote).
    Such simple concepts can lead to a world of difference - the difference between your page being read, skimmed, or completely ignored.
  • ya I heard about that concept and book before from Sh.Muhammad Alshareef, the CRAP is a good concept.

    very simple to implement too.
  • Hmm...Alhamdulillah, it must be a pretty well-known book then. I just saw it at the library and was intrigued. And what's really cool about how the book lays out the concept is that you immediately begin seeing the CRAP in designs all around you. I even started implementing it (hence the way I typed up this post, and the new one I just wrote).
    Such simple concepts can lead to a world of difference - the difference between your page being read, skimmed, or completely ignored.
  • RM
    "we're" should be were. i normally pride myself on keeping contractions straight. *hangs head sadly*
  • Its okay, we all cant be perfect all the time. I mean, wont it be nice if were all amazing and dont need spell checker. Dyou understands?

    Btw, I saw the business card design, looks good, a great amount of CRAP. ;)
  • RM
    "we're" should be were. i normally pride myself on keeping contractions straight. *hangs head sadly*
  • Its okay, we all cant be perfect all the time. I mean, wont it be nice if were all amazing and dont need spell checker. Dyou understands?

    Btw, I saw the business card design, looks good, a great amount of CRAP. ;)
  • RM
    hehe when i first read the title i thought you we're having a technical hissy fit. i was about to say, "them's fightin' words!" then i read the actual entry and it all became clear. :)
  • RM
    hehe when i first read the title i thought you we're having a technical hissy fit. i was about to say, "them's fightin' words!" then i read the actual entry and it all became clear. :)
  • A really important thing to keep in mind is that every software used by a graphic designer must be legit and cannot be stolen software. Downloading an illegal software is like walking into a store, picking up a software worth a few hundred bucks, and then walking out the store.

    Once you start going legit, you will be surprised at the amount of Barakah waiting out there - Br. SaqibSaab mentioned once on MuslimMatters.org that the software that he uses was actually donated by a brother and this also holds true for many others, including myself. Working on illegal software for Islam just doesn't cut it.
  • Alhamdulillah, I agree.
    I'm ashamed to say that I, too, was part of that group, and only recently have realized the true wrongfulness behind it. It's so tempting, but that's what makes us Muslims.
    I haven't designed anything major for a while, but I've switched to GIMP (instead of Photoshop). Thanks for the comment and reminder for us all.
  • A really important thing to keep in mind is that every software used by a graphic designer must be legit and cannot be stolen software. Downloading an illegal software is like walking into a store, picking up a software worth a few hundred bucks, and then walking out the store.

    Once you start going legit, you will be surprised at the amount of Barakah waiting out there - Br. SaqibSaab mentioned once on MuslimMatters.org that the software that he uses was actually donated by a brother and this also holds true for many others, including myself. Working on illegal software for Islam just doesn't cut it.
  • Alhamdulillah, I agree.
    I'm ashamed to say that I, too, was part of that group, and only recently have realized the true wrongfulness behind it. It's so tempting, but that's what makes us Muslims.
    I haven't designed anything major for a while, but I've switched to GIMP (instead of Photoshop). Thanks for the comment and reminder for us all.
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