If you are looking to design something fresh and innovative, then you need to make sure you have the right approach. Even if you are just at the planning stage or you are nearing the completion of your project, ensuring that you follow some key principles then you will be able to design something that is inspiring and helps improve the lives of others.

Here we will look at the key principles of good design and how you can ensure that you stick to those principles throughout your projects, right from the initial planning stage to the closing moments.

Don’t Be Afraid To Find Inspiration

When you are planning your next design project, the first thing you should do is ensure that you don’t hold yourself back. This is particularly true if you feel like a recent design has inspired you. Never be afraid to allow other work to influence you. It ultimately will be the start of you creating your own unique design, even if it starts from work that has already been done.

If you are inspired by something, then really get to grips with it. Have a real good look at your source of inspiration and think about what it is that you really like. Make a note of what makes it seem so appealing to you from a design aspect. Then you will be able to carry those aspects forward so they become part of your own vision.

Innovation Is Far From Dead

Never think that everything has already been done and that there is no room anymore to be innovative. There is a constant stream of new designs out there that look fresh and new and there seems to be no end in sight. As long as you are able to keep your options open and are able to keep your mind flowing freely, then you will be able to create something innovative.

Again, this comes back to the originality argument. Just because you have seen something that has inspired you onto a certain train of thought does not mean that your design will not be original. It will be original as long as you listen to your own creative voice.

Is The Product Useful?

This is probably the most important question you have to ask yourself when you design a product. It has to be useful otherwise people will not want it. It really is as simple as that. You may have made something that is aesthetically pleasing, but it still needs to offer some sort of use to your potential customers.

This is why many designers think of what the product will be before they start designing it. If you have a cool aesthetic in mind, that could be meaningless if you don’t have a use for the product. So maybe start considering this question as your main starting point.

Be Honest To The Product

The worst thing you can do from a design aspect is to create a product that is not useful and then use design in order to lie about it. No matter how good your product may look, lying to your potential customers will lead to your new design falling flat on its face.

The design should make the product look good, but it must do it in a way that accentuates the strengths of the product, rather than lying about what it has to offer.

Don’t Try To Be Fashionable

Fashion changes far too often for anything that is considered to be fashionable to last. Sure, it may be popular for a little while, but eventually, it looks outdated and old-fashioned. Whenever you are designing something, it has to transcend fashion. It needs to look appealing, but not be something that is similar to the current fashion trends.

If your product has an effective design, then it will be able to operate outside of fashion. It will look appealing no matter what time of year it is or whatever fashion movement is taking place. If you feel like your design takes current fashion into account a little too much, then you should try and change things a little bit so then your own creativity comes shining through instead.