Good Design Is a Process, Not Just Making Money

I heard an interview the other day with Saul Bass, a graphic designer and filmmaker who is best known for his animated motion picture title sequences working with directors such as Alfred Hitchcock, Otto Preminger, Stanley Kubrick and Martin Scorsese. He also created the sixth AT&T bell logo after the breakup of the Bell system, the Continental Airline logo, the Girl Scouts logo and the United Airlines logo among many others. Saul was insisting that putting a little effort into a design is worth it whether your client or the audience knows or cares at all. “I want to make beautiful things and I am willing to pay for it.” He goes on to say that it cost those designers money because of their care and time making their design more beautiful. He then makes a point that we as designers must not be under the illusion that anyone else cares.

It started me thinking about my own direction. I have always had respect for good design, and how the designer or painter reaches that conclusion. Whenever I am working with a client, we discuss how to solve the project, whether it is a website, corporate identity, or marketing materials – I try to think of the all angles of how the design will be portrayed, how it interacts with the audience, and how it represents the client.

This thinking process helps me to solve the client’s project. A good design is important to me and I find myself putting in time to make the project the best it can be. Rombs Design must represent the best design it can achieve for the client as a beautiful project.

As Saul Bass said, “Design is thinking made visual.”