1. Computing & Technology
About.com
Desktop Publishing

Discuss in my forum

Don't Use the Software as a Crutch

Desktop Publishing Quotations

By , About.com Guide

See More About:
no cheesy clip art

Just because your software comes with cheesy clip art or special effects is no excuse for creating cheesy designs. Leave it out. Get another picture. Go back to the drawing board.

Software Features Are No Substitute For Good Design and Technique

"Without aesthetic, design is either the humdrum repetition of familiar clichés or a wild scramble for novelty. Without the aesthetic, the computer is but a mindless speed machine, producing effects without substance. Form without relevant content, or content without meaningful form." Paul Rand
"What makes great design great is not a trendy technique, but the logic and conceptual aspect that were figured out in the designer's mind -- or on more likely, on paper -- before a mouse cursor ever opened Photoshop." Kyle Meyer
"Many desperate acts of design (including gradients, drop shadows, and the gratuitous use of transparency) are perpetuated in the absence of a strong concept. A good idea provides a framework for design decisions, guiding the work." Noreen Morioka
"Technology over technique produces emotionless design." Daniel Mall
"Possible ≠ Desirable" Terry Irwin
A hammer and a saw are tools most anyone can use to cut up some board and assemble some walls, some doorways, a roof. But knowing how to use those tools is only part of knowing how to build a house. You need a plan, a design, and the sense to know which method of arranging all the pieces will result in not only something that looks like a house, but something that someone would actually want to live in.

The computer and desktop publishing software are tools anyone can use as well. But knowing how to cram some words and pictures on the page is not the same as knowing how to design something meaningful. You can be a graphic designer without knowing how to use desktop publishing software (although nowadays most designers do learn and use the software). You can learn how to use desktop publishing software without learning basic design principles or having any sort of "design aesthetic." But what you produce is more likely to be "effects without substance" or "emotionless design" or just something "trendy" or a cookie-cutter creation that barely veers away from the template from which you started.

Computers and software made so many things possible that were either impossible or at least much more difficult to do before we had them. But just because desktop publishing software makes it easy to use eight different fonts or put a box around every section of text doesn't mean we should do it. (Just because you can doesn't mean you should.) And on a broader scale, some might say that just because desktop publishing and related software makes it possible for anyone to create their own logos, letterhead, or Web sites doesn't mean it's desirable.

Software Should Be Invisible

"The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources." Albert Einstein or, "A wise person once said that you're only as creative as the obscurity of your sources."
I believe what Einstein was saying was that most endeavors (inventions, architecture, graphic design, etc.) are in small or large ways actually based on something someone else has already done before but we call it original, creative, or innovative because we don't readily see where the inspiration came from (the sources). Along the lines of this quote from Aaron Russell, "Every designers’ dirty little secret is that they copy other designers’ work. They see work they like, and they imitate it. Rather cheekily, they call this inspiration."

It might seem a stretch to relate this to desktop publishing software, however, the Einstein quote reminds me of a software conversation I had many years ago with a designer. In the midst of a discussion about various desktop publishing software programs she insisted that she could tell just by looking at a piece whether or not it was created in QuarkXPress (considered the cream of the crop by her and many others at the time) or some lesser program. Later statements indicated to me that she was really talking about being able to tell whether the piece was created by a designer or an amateur. Her theory being that only professional (good) designers used QuarkXPress so the bad stuff must have been done by an amateur in some inferior program. Yeah, right. (heavy sarcasm).

Good design doesn't care what software is used. Bad design looks bad whether it's done in QuarkXPress or Microsoft Publisher. It's just easier to do it using certain programs over others. A good designer, a creative person can manipulate PageMaker, or Publisher, The Print Shop, PagePlus, or even (gasp) a word processing program in such a way as to create a really beautiful brochure or business card.

Certain tasks might be a lot easier in another program and that's why we have such diversity and ever more powerful desktop publishing programs today — with upgrades we can barely keep up with. But a good designer knows how to hide the source whether it's the latest version of InDesign or a really, really old copy of _______ (anything). That is, whatever good design idea you wish to implement, you'll find a way even if it involves tasks that your software doesn't do well.

More Desktop Publishing Quotations and Commentary

  1. The Meaning and Purpose of Desktop Publishing
  2. this page of quotes on software features
  3. The Software Isn't The Problem If Your Design is Bad (plus sources)

Readers Respond: What Kind of Desktop Publishing Do You Do?

More Quotations

©2012 About.com. All rights reserved.

A part of The New York Times Company.