I've talked a bit about ditching industrial design-style sketches (not that I've religiously followed that in the first place). My thought is that polished sketches with expensive markers and steep learning curve can communicate at a similar efficacy as a smudged thumbnail scribble blown up 300%, cleaned up by adjusting the levels, white eyedropper selecting the paper and black eyedropper selecting the darkest part and just comic sansing a short description right next to it.
15 minute rendered sketch vs a 2 minute quick hack job. Wow...
But then again, did I reach this point because I have some knowledge in the design sketching process?
Actually probably not. I've found some drawings from middle school and it's basically the same (or better) quality as stuff I've made during undergrad and beyond. Me as a middle schooler can communicate with drawings better that me right now (albeit with less confident, chicken-scratchy lines).
This is the theory of diminishing returns. There's a point where the amount of effort put into a task will output only a minimal amount of improvement.
15 minute rendered sketch vs a 2 minute quick hack job. Wow...
But then again, did I reach this point because I have some knowledge in the design sketching process?
Actually probably not. I've found some drawings from middle school and it's basically the same (or better) quality as stuff I've made during undergrad and beyond. Me as a middle schooler can communicate with drawings better that me right now (albeit with less confident, chicken-scratchy lines).
This is the theory of diminishing returns. There's a point where the amount of effort put into a task will output only a minimal amount of improvement.
nick janetakis... because making my own graph is past the point of diminishing returns.
This is especially good to know when you're dealing with a client or audience. For example, Ryan's World is a franchise centring around a kid named Ryan. This is a perfect example of diminishing returns:
screenshot because google made it difficult to just steal the image and can only give it to me in webp.
All the characters are basically clipart-level art (except for the kid maybe). Different art styles, line weights, and probably image resolutions and spot colours. But the audience don't care, and the business people probably care even less. And if any designers raise an issue, they can simply say something like, 'it's intentionally a vernacular and homely design' and they'll all be on their merry way to the green hills of Windows XP.
Despite the supposed shortcomings, they are probably hugely successful, given how much billion-dollar corporations are buying and pushing the IP.
Diminishing returns. If they put more effort, the product will definitely be more polished, but the return will probably not be that noticeable. They made the call, and it paid off remarkably well.
But that's not to say that I'm going to follow Pocket Watch and Ryan's World scheme of diminishing returns. my point is further ahead than them, and I'll try to scrape as much as I can for my own benefit. Since I understand that, my quality of design isn't reliant on any sort of arbitrary perfectionism, but on an informed decision. I know that the extra few hours will pay mostly for my calm of mind over the lining of pockets (although there is some correlation to higher perceived quality and extra pocket lining). There are -- however -- places where this concept will definitely work tremendously:
Internal design showcases probably don't need to be too polished. Just enough to get the work done and communicate the right ideas. Everyone probably have the same design language lexicon to get by.
If you need some examples, Oki Sato from nendo exhibit this idea miraculously well.
Despite the supposed shortcomings, they are probably hugely successful, given how much billion-dollar corporations are buying and pushing the IP.
Diminishing returns. If they put more effort, the product will definitely be more polished, but the return will probably not be that noticeable. They made the call, and it paid off remarkably well.
But that's not to say that I'm going to follow Pocket Watch and Ryan's World scheme of diminishing returns. my point is further ahead than them, and I'll try to scrape as much as I can for my own benefit. Since I understand that, my quality of design isn't reliant on any sort of arbitrary perfectionism, but on an informed decision. I know that the extra few hours will pay mostly for my calm of mind over the lining of pockets (although there is some correlation to higher perceived quality and extra pocket lining). There are -- however -- places where this concept will definitely work tremendously:
Internal design showcases probably don't need to be too polished. Just enough to get the work done and communicate the right ideas. Everyone probably have the same design language lexicon to get by.
If you need some examples, Oki Sato from nendo exhibit this idea miraculously well.
unpolished or extremely well polished?
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