Good Design Formula

Unusual = something you never seen before = something visually simulating = something visually impactful = Beauty

Unusual = Beauty

This is the formula I came up with my Junior year at Parsons. I remember we were told to make a book out of any medium and any content, and at the time I was a die hard fan of ill-studio and Service Generaux, so I decided to dive deep on analyzing why I love their work so much or even Virgil's non-fashion works. I wanted to see if there's any way I can quantify my undefined, unwavering, and abstract attraction towards the stuff these people created.

The formula was the result of that analysis.

"The thing that makes your eyes say Woaaaah" is the plain english of the formula.

I even revisited this formula when in my senior year Parsons CD students were given a task to design a book AGAIN, any content, but has to be 256 images.

I named the book "Aesthetics Arrest". If you ever read any book or snippets regarding the philosophy of aesthetics, you might be familiar with the concept of "Aesthetics Arrest". Something so visually stimulating that arrests your eyes literally for 15+ seconds.

And those 256 images in the book, are 256 images on Are.na that arrested my eyes for more than 15 seconds.

The images consist of cows in the ocean (who tf ever seen cows in the ocean?), cows on a helicopter, baby deer resting in the warm belly of a manufactured, artificial decoy deer, nomads from Mongolia holding drones like holding eagles, a military personal with helmets and bullet proof vest that has a badge saying "Art teacher", etc…..

To a degree, you can call these beautiful, just like how you can call these "artistic" in a philosophical way.

I personally believe this unusualness that aesthetically arrests me is the very same thing how good design visually arrests audience. It is the unusualness, the "unusual" without negative connotation.

Most people call this taste. But the word "taste" is too abstract. How can we utilize on paper and communication to others on something that is in nature ABSTRACT?

We need to dum it down, we need to quantify, quantize, and "unabstract" it.

Therefore I claim again: Unusual = Beauty

My fellow designers talks about "Taste" "Taste" and "Taste" all the time. I get exactly what they are talking about but at the same time I know for a fact they are talking about something different that what I'm envisioning as "Taste". It is just way too abstract to be a word for design communication.

I remember one time I was on an Uber with Brian Collins late at night from office to a movie theater at East Village. And I asked him one question (well I asked him a lot of questions, including if he "side" with me on my vision of everyone be a design generalist in the near future). I actually can't recall the exact wording of that question but it was "Taste" related, and he responded very quickly: "Not Taste" "It is Knowledge".

He later on explained what people call "taste" is plainly knowledge. Knowledge of good design, Knowledge of knowing exactly what's the best vision, Knowledge of what's working and what's not.

I CANNOT AGREE MORE.

Consistent good design isn't coming from this abstract "Taste". It is coming from years of experience of consistent calculation, craftsmanship, and the confidence on the good designers' unique personal strategy and formula to go about design. IT IS KNOWLEDGE.

And my knowledge is here for the take.

For my muses.

Unusual = something you never seen before = something visually simulating = something visually impactful = Beauty

Unusual = Beauty