Cheeseboards & Layout
I don’t have any formal design experience. It can be intimidating to jump into a new field. I try to relate my design work to my previous career as a chef. The comparison grounds me and gives me confidence.
What is your process when figuring how to organize/design your projects?
I use culinary plating as inspiration, since that’s my background!
The example I demonstrate below is how i thought about the page for the DesignLab Design 101 submission for “Evaluate Poor Design.” If you look at them one after another, you may see what I mean.
First, I make “mis en place,” getting all my information together in different components… In a presentation, it’s content in text boxes and the images I want to use. I have them organized in a row in a blank frame in Figma.
Next, I play with layout, adding them to a new frame [platter].
I make the “showpiece” the “hero” subject the website images & title. [wheel of blue cheese + large, bright pomegranates].
Working around that I add my smaller important components [garnishes like persimmon, olives, nuts, pickled carrots, sliced cheese, meats].
I make sure that all of the components spatially relate back to the hero image.
There’s a block of text [a big bread & cracker basket] that I need to include, because it is informative but not gorgeous, so I nestle that along the side.
I do color/font/etc last, which is fun to play with. It’s like the finishing touches [drizzle of olive oil, sprinkle of salt, fine herbs, to make the work shine!].
I am glad to be able to use my spatial awareness and layout from my previous career in such simple terms while writing about UX projects. Maybe you don’t have culinary experience, but you’ve done floor plans or layouts of another kind. Look deep in your tool belt, I’m sure that you’ve got some skills that you can apply to this new path, too!
