Sometimes designers can receive requests such as: “Make me a beautiful logo” or “Create for us a beautiful brand”. But what actually makes a design beautiful?
Everyone has a different perception of what is beautiful. From the color of the walls in our rooms, to the shoes on our feet. Everyone will have their own individual preference, also when it comes to design.
If a logo or brand design is simply made to be beautiful, it becomes art. It will fit into a specific perception of “beauty” and will be visually appealing to a certain, limited audience. This will be a good option, if the purpose of this design is to be artistic. However, in most scenarios, that is not the case.
A design can be good or bad
Speaking of design, one shouldn’t judge it based on their subjective perception of beauty. A design serves a purpose.
A design can be either good (effective) or bad, but it cannot be just beautiful.
Unless its purpose is “to be beautiful”, a subjectively beautiful design will fail to be good and useful.
A good design is objectively beautiful
A design becomes objectively beautiful when it is effective. More specifically, a good design will:
- Serve its purpose
- Fit brand’s strategy & goals
- Act as a visual communication tool
- Be visually appealing to its audience
In this way, a design will be beautiful from a design perspective, because it will do what is required of it.
Let’s take a look at some examples.
A design can be playful and colorful, but not “beautiful”.
A design can be calm and peaceful, but not “beautiful”.
A design can be rugged and powerful, but not “beautiful”.
A design can be minimalistic and simple, but not “beautiful”.
In all these examples, the design will be good for its purpose, but might not be necessarily beautiful to everyone.
As long as design is beautiful to its target audience, it is a beautiful design.
If you, personally, represent your target audience, then your personal perception of beauty can be a good criteria. However, if you are creating a product or service for someone who is very different from you, you shouldn’t let your personal perception limit your brand and its visual communication.
In this sense, a good designer will help you with research and step into the shoes of your audience to create great visual communication that will be beautiful for your audience.
Contact us, and let’s take a look at how we can elevate your design to be objectively beautiful to your audience.