If you find yourself looking at products and thinking “how the hell do I design something as good as that”, then this is for you. You can take comfort in knowing that the designers who made whatever it is you’re drooling over also had to figure out how to close this gap of recognizing good design and producing good design. I’m going to walk you through a creative model that you can use to improve your design eye and level up your skills. You can apply these steps to any discipline, but for this lesson, we’re focusing on user interface design.
The four steps to closing the creative gap are:
- Active observation — study the design of the apps you use.
- Deconstruction — isolate layers to understand the detail of each component.
- Imitation — recreate designs to internalize design decisions.
- Creation — produce new original work that is informed and influenced by the previous steps.
Each step takes you deeper into your craft. No matter what type of creator you are, following these four steps will help you pull back the curtain on design choices.
Source: Closing the creative gap
