We live in a world where TikTok and Instagram reels are teaching designers how to shortcut their way through creativity. But let’s be real – following so-called ‘design recipes’ does nothing but turn you into a copycat.

In this episode of The Angry Designer podcast, we rip apart the dangerous trend of social media design hacks and formulas, showing why they kill true creativity.

We’re here to help frustrated designers break free from the cookie-cutter mold and actually think for themselves. Forget the ‘one-size-fits-all’ formulas – this episode is all about learning how to develop your own creative instincts, trust your gut, and build a design process that’s uniquely yours.

Tune in as we walk through:

• Why following design recipes is holding you back
• The difference between design education and technical tricks
• How The Angry Designer helps you build confidence by thinking critically and creating your own solutions

We’re not here to give you shortcuts – we’re here to help you grow into the badass, independent designer you’re meant to be.

Honestly, these people who are relying on social videos

for learning design, I mean, we're leading to a

generation of designers that are basically copycats, right?

They're able to replicate shit that

they're seeing online over and over,

but there's nothing original coming from.

There's no original thought.

You're listening to the Angry Designer podcast where

we help frustrated graphic designers crush the industry

bull and learn what it takes to charge

what you're worth and build badass rewarding careers.

In this episode, we're tearing down the so called design

rules that you're getting from social media and getting real

about what it takes to stand out as a designer.

It's not about following recipes on how to

create logos and how to space your layouts.

It's about understanding the thought

process that drives creativity.

We're going to show you how to

ditch those stupid social shortcuts, think for

yourself and actually create instead of copy.

So grab yourself that drink, sit back and relax, or

hang on to that steering wheel and tune in as

this shit is gonna level up your design game.

And while we uncover the whole why behind the design.

What was that?

Oh, I already terminated.

Oh, the termin, wasn't it?

We should have angry Terminator

music starting our episode.

Yeah, that would be cool.

Oh, that would set the tone for the AI

ones, for the 80 AI stories we do. Cheers.

We're doing the same thing, right, Mister Jefferson?

Boy, are we.

Mister Jefferson.

What was that?

George Jefferson. That's right. Sorry.

That's where I was going with that one.

To the east side.

Mister Jones Jefferson.

I remember that.

And yes, we are going to finish off Miss Grisham. Yeah.

This is President Jefferson.

Oh, this is so good, though.

Mm, mm, mm.

Oh, yes.

That's nice. Does it feel good?

Like, a couple weeks later. I haven't done bourbon.

I feel like, for, like, two weeks now.

It's been a long time. Yes. Whoa. That feels so good.

But that is. That's right.

That was a little tough bourbon, wasn't it?

It had a bourbon going down, but I remember. Oh, yeah.

The second and third shot where, like, I think

it was actually the second and third glass.

It's kind of better on this one. Ooh. Yeah.

So, yes, we are recommending Jefferson's, but this is

not for the newbies or the weak at hearts.

This is definitely stronger. This is stronger.

Flavorful, but very flavorful. Stronger. Oh, yeah.

Put hair on your peaches if you have peaches.

I don't know. Wow.

It went there anyway.

Where'd you get that shirt?

You should tell everybody. Fuck. Do you see this shirt?

Check this out. Awesome.

Super Grover.

Anybody remember Super Grover from Sesame street?

This was from.

Cause we went to fan expo last night. That's right.

And man, do I love that.

Was that place was kick ass or what? Boy, was it.

It was a long day. It was a long day. Hiring as hell.

It was by the artists.

The sketch duel.

There was people that I follow on instagram that

were there that I didn't realize till afterwards.

Oh, I know, right?

So it's like that annual jolt of creativity, right?

Like, you go to fan expo and it's

just you're surrounded by so many talented people

everywhere, walking the floor, you know, showing their

costumes, illustrators, designers, crafting people.

It's just.

Not to mention all the other real cool stuff like the

video game booths and, I mean, it was all so good.

So this fantastic from retro kid,

which was huge with our crew.

Huge with our crew.

Yeah, we got this.

I think I got like a cookie monster hoodie as well.

And a YTV hoodie as well.

So come wintertime, you guys might see some

fancy hoodies from me other than just.

It was such a good event. Yeah, it was great.

You know, it was cool.

It was up, but it was tiring.

Yeah, it was very, very hard for us old dudes.

Me especially.

But, you know, it's important, dude.

It's important to.

Cause that's our annual creative

retreat, kind of, right.

Like, we all go, we shut down, customers are cool with

it, and we just take a day and dig in. Dig in, right.

Literally. And it's.

And I'm always, like, feeling like I'm dragging everybody

there, but it seems like everybody enjoys it, even

though it's a lot of the same. Yeah. Yeah.

A couple of us were sick and. Oh, my God.

So they couldn't partake.

And, you know, some people were on holidays,

but, yeah, for the most part, I think

everybody who's able totally digging it.

Luis and I were in the back of the car

and we were kind of yawning by the end of

the ride back was a little tough, wasn't it?

But it was good. It was, it was.

It was fun.

I encourage everybody to go and nerd out, whether.

Whether your nerd is, is, you know, anime or crafting

or comics or if it's like, totally the opposite, like

music, going to concerts, you know, you have to embrace.

You have to embrace that because how else are

you going to take your creativity to another level?

Yeah, exactly. Right? Yeah.

You find inspiration at these places.

You learn ideas and it's the physical aspect of it.

The art is right there in your hands. Right.

You know what I mean? Like, you can see it.

And people were drawing, and the artists.

The artists were there.

Yeah, we went to the sketch. Yeah.

What was it called?

Sketch duel.

Sketch la mania or something like sketchamania, where it

was like, the champion from last year, Mike hall. Right.

He was awesome.

But, yeah, he was dethroned this year.

But how cool was that? Yeah, it was great.

So it's such a different way to

get, you know, to learn from.

To get inspired to get information. Right.

As opposed to a lot of

the shit that I'm seeing nowadays. Okay.

And I haven't told you this, but in the

initial episode that, you know, I was studying for

and I was, like, trying to put together, you

know, my thoughts on was, um, about grids.

I figured, you know what?

Let's do a whole episode on just talking about grids.

You know, where they came from, how to use it. Right?

Yeah.

And like that, I ended, and we will, because,

I mean, I did start with that, and I

got a lot of information on it.

But what happened is I came across some social

videos on grids, and it was like, you know,

how to use grids to make your logo better

and how to proportionate your logo. And it was.

It was like an influencer who was like, hey, you

know, you don't know the size of your logo mark,

and it's centered over top of your font.

Well, do this.

And then he started drawing a grid on top

of the lettering, and then he did a math

equation and resized it, and he was like, voila.

It was that fucking easy.

And I was like, wait a minute.

It can't be that easy.

So I quickly opened up my computer, right?

Or I opened up illustrator.

I put the word out there for the angry designer, right?

I just took our icon, I put it in, I

sized it up according to this, and guess what?

It didn't work.

Fucking no, it didn't work.

And again, it's a problem, right?

Cause instantly I'm like, so here I'm watching

this person on social say, do this.

It's sure fire. It's gonna work.

It's a formula, right?

Here's a recipe for design.

Recipe.

And in the end, it looked like shit. It didn't look.

It didn't work.

And it kind of pissed me off.

Cause it was like trying to say that

what we're doing is very formulaic, right?

And, I mean, design isn't

about following recipes, right?

This is about learning about recipes, but how to

create your own flavors of this whole experience. Right?

And so that's what kind of got me going is the

absurdity of what we're seeing online when it comes to people

learning about design and how to actually learn design.

So I figured, you know what?

I quickly shifted my train of thought, and I was like,

I think this deserves more of a talk than grids.

And we'll get to grids, don't get me wrong.

And I'll do that in a future episode.

I don't even know what I want to say

and how much of this really makes me angry. Right.

Yeah, I can see what you're saying.

Cause it's like people are trying to put a formula

or a recipe to what it is we do.

What it is we do. Exactly.

You know, like, I can appreciate.

It's a nice start on how to

get there, you know what I mean?

But by no means is it the end

all, and it's what people should follow. Right?

Now, let me be clear.

I'm not talking about some of our friends who show us

tips and tricks on how to use the apps technical skills.

You know, hey, I'm all for social videos. Bring it on.

How to do something more efficiently. Hey, great.

Because God knows these apps

are big and they're confusing.

And I always appreciate when I've got someone like James

showing us, hey, I can do this for you.

I can show you a better way to

do what you're doing and get that result. Great.

I'm talking about when people are learning design principles

based on somebody and they're trying to find you

a shortcut, a recipe, this or that.

And the problem is, very rarely does

it end up like what they're showing,

okay, more times than not, it doesn't.

And there's so many consequences to this, right?

And this is the problem that I'm having,

is that, you know, people who are relying

on ratios and formulas and tricks and hacks

on how to actually, you know, do design,

they're replicating, you know, they're not innovating.

And that's the problem with this whole idea, right?

Like, these recipes are teaching people to follow,

not how to innovate and be creative, right?

And that's my.

That's my word.

You know, it reminded me so much about college, and I.

Everybody knows my college fucking experience.

But it was like if you didn't, you know, fit in

that mold and kind of do what they wanted you to

do, and because they're the experts, they're the masters, they're the

ones that we're supposed to look up to.

So if you don't follow and fit in that

mold, well, then you don't fit in the club.

And that's kind of my worry about a

lot of what I'm seeing out there.

You know, learning, you know,

learning how to design online.

Like, with all these quick, short little videos,

you know, like, I'm sorry, but a short.

Okay, like a YouTube short or an Instagram

short or TikTok sure is not a place

on how to actually learn how to design. Yes. Okay.

And I think that is my concern

about what's happening with the generation today.

You're absolutely right.

And these people, you know, some of these

guys should know better, I would think.

Right, like, this is kind of one of those

experience things and this one size fits all.

Applying this to what you're doing. Yes, yes.

This is good, but this is not gonna work for everybody.

And you should.

You should be aware.

You should be telling people that

this may not work for you.

Yes, this works for me. Yes.

In this particular.

Fair enough. Right. And that's even in.

I mean, again, I remember, like, nothing

lined up when I tried this.

None of the, you know, it's funny how grids almost,

they look so good when they're finished, but it's just

I'm starting to think that a lot of the stuff

that I'm seeing online about, oh, look, you know, match

this up with this size, left, right, here's your proportion,

and bang, you made up your own golden fucking ratio.

Right?

Like, honestly, these people who are relying

on social videos for learning design, I

mean, we're leading to a generation of

designers that are basically copycats, right?

They're able to replicate shit that

they're seeing online over and over,

but there's nothing original coming from.

There's no original thought.

They're not going to be able to think for themselves.

They're not going to be critical thinkers.

And this is the worry.

I genuinely worry because, and again, I think this

is a bigger issue social media wise in general,

right, where people are learning so much.

But for design, especially because I'm so passionate about our

group, our people, everybody that we help, I think we

got some issues here that we have to kind of

talk about, in my opinion, big time. Yeah.

Because, you know, when we were coming up, we

saw books and we, you know, you noticed artists

and stuff like that, but again, they weren't telling

you their trips, their truths and all their stuff.

You know, you had to kind of get there yourself.

Yes, yes.

Like, you would analyze.

You would analyze.

Exactly.

We had our own processes for this.

You know, we're right now, like, let's face

it, shorts are 60 seconds or less.

And what can you learn in 60 seconds?

Dude, I don't design tips for

the programs in 60 seconds.

It's not even that.

And the problem is, because none of these videos

are 60 seconds, they're 30 to 15 seconds faster

than that because our attention span is so little.

And again, it's not how you learn design, again, because

there is no one size fits all with this.

When you start relying on social

media for learning how to design.

And I'm not, again, not technical skills,

but actually learning how to design. Right. You're just.

You're just touching this at a very surface level. Yes.

It's very superficial.

Scratching the surface. Right, exactly.

Like, and again, that's not actually designed.

That's copying and replicating, which is a concern.

Right.

You know, obviously, you know, in order

to make it look good, you gotta,

you know, put an overemphasis on trends.

Otherwise it's not even gonna look interesting.

People are gonna be like, you know, it's like,

boring or, oh, obviously the result isn't there.

It's not what I'm looking at.

You know, obviously there's no context behind

it because, again, it's a recipe. How.

What kind of context can you

put behind a recipe, right.

Let alone, you know, you know,

critical thinking and thinking for yourself.

Like, again, how do you.

How do you apply this shit when you're

learning it on such a high level? Right.

You know, in all fairness, like you said,

in 60 seconds, if you even get anywhere

near that, okay, the information that you're getting,

you know, it's not gonna be pure. Yeah. Right.

So there's definitely gonna be

misinformation given at that.

There's gonna be steps that

are included and not included.

Yeah, absolutely.

Left out in order to save time. Exactly.

So it's like, well, then, wait, wait.

You missed that whole step.

That usually takes a day.

Fuck. Right?

And then what this does is it kind of gives

this whole illusion of mastery that you are the shit,

but really, like, you can't be with that kind of.

With that.

With that kind of delivery. Right.

It's just, you know, it takes forever to

become a master of what we do.

But, you know, when you're seeing these

people on social just kind of be

like, hey, clickety click, here you go.

Follow my recipe on how to build a logo or

how to properly size it or what the ratios are.

Dude, you know, it's.

It's over.

It's almost devaluing what we do. Exactly.

Saying that, hey, that the 20 years it took me

to do this, well, I must be a fucking moron. Yeah.

I could have learned it in

30 seconds on social media, right? Yeah.

And ultimately, all this adds

up to fucking imposter syndrome. Yes.

Because what was my experience with this? Right?

Like I said, I got frustrated

because I'm like, wait a minute.

You know, I've seen working. It's not working.

Why isn't it working?

And the first thing I do is I blame myself. Yeah, right?

Because I'm like, you know, it's a formula.

You know, he.

You know, he put that formula clear as day.

Add this, add that up, down, measure it up.

Why does it look wrong?

There's this whole other world of

why it didn't go wrong.

My mark was a different shape.

My fonts were wider.

It was a different style.

Like, there was other issues with

what I was dealing with.

Not just this, not just that, but again, you don't get

to go in that deep, because in 30 seconds, all I

got was, hey, this is how you properly should size this.

One, two, three.

And when I did it, it didn't look good.

It didn't look good.

It didn't look good.

So again, I blame myself.

All of a sudden, you start thinking, you know,

you're not good enough, you're not as good.

Everything starts to crumble. Right?

So again, I think, you know, ultimately, all the

shit that we're seeing, you know, on social media

and with these people learning how to design is

just going to create more internal conflict for designers.

And, you know, the funny thing with that is,

like, you've got a broad sense of what's going

on, you know, design, you know, what's happening.

You had the smarts to know that, hey, because

of these variables, this is not going to work. For what.

What if you're just new to it? Yes.

And like, like, how horrible would that be?

Absolutely.

You, for a couple of seconds, and you're like,

oh, wait, it's because of this, that what?

That wasn't working.

Somebody else may not have that. Well.

And the thing is, if you don't put

in, if you don't have the kind of

experience we have, okay, you're gonna fall short. Yes.

And you will be a copycat.

You will be, you know, what we call,

you know, a papagalo, which is just like,

you know, fancy words, I think, for parrots,

which basically just regurgitates what it's seeing, right.

And I mean, for what?

For finding shortcuts?

For maybe finding a hack to try to

do what, you know, genuinely, it takes, you

know, years to learn how to do, right? So.

And that's it.

It's like I feel that these

videos promote shortcuts, finding shortcuts.

And while I am 100% for finding shortcuts in how

to do the work itself in the apps, right, I. Brilliant.

There's no way to find a shortcut in design.

And learning how to design, you've got to put

in the time, you've got to cut your teeth,

like you say, and actually get through all those.

Design mastery doesn't come from following

somebody on fucking social media.

Design mastery comes from time, experience and the

willingness to experiment, to create, to fail, to

figure out why you're doing this. This.

That's where true design mastery comes.

Nobody wakes up as a fucking pro

and, and nobody becomes a designer, you

know, a master designer, from following somebody.

That's for fucking sure.

Oh, dude. You know, like, it's.

Seriously, it's okay.

I hate those. I just.

But this doesn't mean that I hate all

of the social media, you know, like people

I see out there that are doing stuff. Okay.

I don't know if anybody follows.

Obviously we rave about Alan, right?

Alan Petersen. Okay.

Fucking one of my design heroes and

the dudes alive, which is great, right?

He's not like Massimo Vignelli, who's

not, you know, and even CJ. Right? CJ Crawley.

I mean, again, what they're doing, which I

love, okay, is their series lately on social

media is, is they're, they're actually dissecting stuff.

Yeah.

And they're sharing their thought process. Yes.

Behind what they're doing. Okay?

This to me is design education. Yes. Okay.

This isn't a recipe.

This isn't follow a, B and C.

This is studying the thought process

behind what it is they're doing. Okay?

This is fucking brilliant.

And again, I tip my hat, I give high fives.

I praise these guys for doing this because to me, this

is real value, not fucking show me a ratio on how

to size things up and become like a papagalo. Okay?

For real.

By what these guys are doing is

you're understanding the methodology that they're employing.

Right.

Their thought process in behind what

they're doing when they're dissecting stuff. Right?

This, you know, you're listening to them because

they're talking about what they're looking at, what

they're finding as issues and how they are

resolving these issues, whether they're real clients, whether

they're, you know, mock brands, existing brands that

they're just making matter.

But there is so much value to

what the information they're putting up with.

That is good design education. That's it. And that's.

I wish you.

I wish more people were embracing

this kind of idea, this.

This kind of methodology in teaching designers. Yep.

CJ's awesome because he's.

He also, he'll do up a logo or wordmark or

something like that, send it to the client, and then

the client gives feedback to, which is very real.

It's not just like, I did this.

I came up with this at the end of the video.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Exactly.

That's not the real world. That's right.

There's gonna be changes.

There's gonna be things involved.

Even greats like CJ. Yep.

Is gonna be hit a.

And what's cool is because they're

sharing their process, their methodology. Right.

We don't have to follow that methodology, but what

we do is we learn to understand their train

of thought, how he goes about it. Right.

The problem that he sees, okay, how he would

correct it, why this font maybe isn't the best

choice and not because he doesn't like it.

It's because maybe it doesn't reflect the audience.

It maybe is dated.

It's maybe limiting or whatever. Right.

They'll talk you through this. Right.

And then it allows you to learn how to dissect

not only your own shit, but then also give good

advice to customers when you're analyzing what cause.

Let's face it, you know, oftentimes you're put on the

spot and the customer's like, well, what do you think?

Right? Yeah.

Never, ever say, I don't like it or

I personally feel this, or I feel. No, no, no.

Because it's not.

They're not hiring you for your personal opinions.

They're hiring you for your expertise, which

expertise is based on your experience. Okay?

So, you know, this way what they're teaching us is.

Or what they're teaching designers is they're teaching them,

you know, how to actually think for themselves.

That's critical thinking, big time. Okay.

And that's why I appreciate the shit that

they're doing and they're putting on the right.

You're doing more than just seeing the end result. Yeah.

You're learning the why. Why.

What was behind what was exactly right.

That's fucking gold. Because that's.

That's allowing us to kind of think for ourselves. Yeah.

Where the other.

The other stuff isn't thinking for themselves.

If there's a design recipe out there that you're

following, well, you're not thinking for yourself at all.

My mother was, to this day, God rest her

fucking soul, you know, she was the best cook.

I've gone to restaurants, I've tasted

people, and I'm like, no, never. Right?

And it's not because she could follow a

fucking recipe, because let me tell you, she

did not have a recipe card anywhere, okay?

She would look at a recipe, she would look

at an end product, she would dissect an end

product, and then she would formulate her own variation

of it to be like, you know what?

You know, this pasta is a little overcooked. I'm gonna.

If I did this, it would be a

little less, you know, it's too watery.

I would thicken it up like this.

And she would make her own concoctions based on that.

And so she had that ability.

So it wasn't because she followed a recipe

on how to get to that final product.

She used her instinct and her guts

and said, hey, you know what?

Because of my expertise and my expert level, yes,

I can tell that this pasta is watery. Right, right.

And again, she did that. Everything.

Fucking desserts to this.

It was endless what this woman could do.

My God, it was just so much creativity in Tom. But.

And here's the thing.

Like, in this kind of thing, how

much is instinctual in what we do? Interesting.

Is there.

Is there something like a gut in you when you're

designing something that you're just like, this may not.

This should not work, but here,

in this instance, it does.

I do think so.

But I don't think it's, again,

instinctual with the fundamental gained. No, no.

Like, I mean, like, okay, like a dog, you

know, Finn, he's instinctually, if he sees a squirrel

outside, he wants to go and chase it needed.

Even though he's a completely domesticated animal.

But I think for us, in design, I

think design instinct is something that is acquired

over time, and then you realize that's off.

That feels right. It doesn't.

There isn't just a black and white formula to each.

Again, let's face it.

Obviously there isn't, because that's why you

have greats like David Carson and Paul

ashore, you know, who just.

They broke all the rules.

They didn't follow a recipe. Nope. Right.

Cause imagine how fucking boring everything would

be if everything was the same. Exactly.

However, if people are learning design by people like this

on a regular basis, everything would look the same.

Exactly.

And I hate to say it, but lately, a lot of shit does.

It has been. Yes, yes. Yeah. Yes.

I'm a huge fan of the.

Of the halftone dots, but, yeah, boy, oh,

boy, does that need a comeback or what? I know, right?

I mean, yeah, half tones, great. Yeah.

There's always been a place for half tone, but it

just seems like people are just using it hazard now.

Right, exactly.

And I think it's a little bit of the chicken

in the egg because there's so many cool things in

these apps that you can do these kind of things.

So it's kind of like, are they coming

back because of what illustrator is giving us?

Yeah, fair enough. Right. You don't.

I mean, like, I don't know. I don't know. I just.

No, I hear you, dude. I hear you. I hear you. Yeah.

The difference between the design recipes in trying

to teach design versus, you know, the Alan

Peters and the CJ Cawley, you know, teaching

design, the difference is one is just copying. Yep.

Copying. It's boring.

It's learning how to do things.

And unfortunately, it's teaching you how to replicate

something that doesn't always work, which leads to

so many long term problems, okay.

Versus the other, which our friends

are doing, okay, is teaching designers

how to independently think for themselves. Okay?

Which independent thinking, in my opinion, is

the ultimate skill for a graphic designer,

because you need that, okay?

These recipes are giving you this false sense of

a finished product, but that's not gonna work.

That's not gonna give you longevity.

You have to be able to think for yourself. Right.

I mean, again, you have to be able.

That's how true creativity and

originality is accomplished, okay?

By taking something, right?

Dissecting it, finding out where it

starts, you know, and then.

And then breaking outside of the prescribed methods

that people tell you at school or on

these fucking, you know, social media things, right?

If anything, I'd say, always try to

break those rules if you can.

But again, thinking for yourself, because when

you start thinking for yourself, right.

You start building confidence in your judgment. Okay?

Let's face it, right?

That's complete opposite of imposter syndrome. Big time.

Okay? Absolutely. Right.

This allows you to trust your own decisions, you know,

not just back in a recipe or a guideline, because

that's how he told me I should do it. Right? Again.

When you start thinking for yourself, you fuel your own

creative, you fuel your own creativity, and you become a

lot more innovative in the things, the way you think

and the way you go about things.

That's what a designer does is they kind of

think outside the box in the brief, but outside

the box, not just follow the fucking brief, right?

This isn't to connect the dots.

So reduces our imposter syndrome situation

because again, once you start thinking

for yourself, you start gaining confidence.

You're not feeling like you can't do it anymore

because you are now able to confidently dissect things.

Right?

And that's what they're teaching you,

is how to actually deconstruct, not

just replicate, which is massive, okay?

And again, what this does is then this

kind of promotes your internal validation so you

become a stronger, more confident designer.

Right, in how you approach

projects and problems and stuff. And that's great.

And then it gives you more

courage towards breaking the rules.

Like David Carson isn't David Carson because it

came out of the box like that. Right?

Like, he pushed it.

He pushed it and he.

And he started getting more confidence because again,

nobody goes from, you know, like a designer

at a college to a David Carson overnight

because people would tell you to fuck off.

Right, this guy, you know, there'd be

a million David Carson's out there. Exactly. Right.

Absolutely.

No, like, I mean, again, he pushed it and pushed it.

Same with Paul Lesure. Pushed it and pushed it.

And then once they finally got enough confidence and

enough experience behind them, their lead in the way.

Right.

But they didn't do that

by following somebody else's lead.

No, they did that by, you know, learning

and then becoming, you know, empowering themselves, make,

being able to make their own decisions.

And that's what you're not learning on these.

You know, quick how to properly size your logo,

how to, you know, get your ratio for your

headlines and your ads and this and that.

Like, you know, take this shit

with a grain of salt, honestly.

And don't let it, you know, sway you

one way or another in your value as

a designer because honestly, honestly, I don't think

that they're, they're providing any value. Okay.

Other than maybe a very loose

guideline to start and that's it. Okay?

It's not a, you know, prescription on how to do it.

It's just a very loose.

You want to, you want somewhere to start?

Okay, start here. Yes.

Here's a great spot to go. Yeah.

And I remember I did, I

did make that recommendation once.

I was like, you know, like, when you're

sizing out, you know, copyright a headline, make

your sub headline 50% of the headline. Okay?

So if your headline's 124, make the other 162. Right?

But I quickly said you know, but

that might not always feel right. That's right.

See the instincts. Exactly.

So you can start there.

Because it's like you start. Right.

And I always tell everybody here, start

with tapping it at the very least.

And then if it feels like it's not balanced

because there's so many other fucking elements in there.

Exactly.

Work up from there. Right. Yeah.

And that's what I think. A lot of this.

There should be a fucking warning on all of these.

On these shorts.

They should be right.

Being like, you know, listen, warning like this. Don't.

Don't take this verbatim. Yes, use it.

As for me.

This may not work for you.

Yeah, why not? That's exactly.

Well, you're right.

I think you're right.

I think that is a disingenuous kind

of way to lead people down. I agree. I agree.

There should be. But.

And I think you and I know this, but

I think some people aren't always aware that, hey,

this is not a one size fits all. This may not.

What this cat's doing may not work for you.

We know that. Yes, you're right. You're right.

And you had to try it to see to prove to them.

Yeah, I think.

I think, you know, half the time, you know, we fuck up.

And that's how we.

That's how you learn.

How we learn how to. Exactly.

Right, exactly. Right.

But there's a difference between fucking up and feeling

like you're a failure and then feeling like. Yeah.

And like, oh, my God. Right.

Well, because again, if somebody's, like.

If somebody online is telling you, hey,

you know, a plus b equals c. Yeah.

And when you do it, it's like, wrong. I get b plus.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Right. And that's.

And that's the difference. Right?

Like, you learn by making mistakes, by fucking up.

But the thing is, if you are constantly feeling

like you're not, you know, equivalent to these people

who are giving you these straight, you know, these

straight formulas, well, shit, then again, you're not even

gonna want to continue to try. Exactly.

They need to promote this independent thinking, which

is why, again, I love watching Allen's videos.

I love watching CJ's videos.

I love watching these videos that

are helping us deconstruct shit. Yes. Okay.

So what I did is I kind

of through watching their videos, okay.

I kind of broke down a list here. Seven points, okay.

On what to do when you're

dissecting a design that you admire. Okay.

Because sometimes they'll dissect, like, an existing

logo that they think that, you know,

that they're giving their opinion on. Right.

Hey, didn't the angry designers do something like that?

Angry designers did something great like this, except

we gave you our opinions on it. Damn it.

That's right.

We got the celebrity episode that we just did. Awesome.

But, you know, so either, you know, these

seven things, follow these points, you know, when

you're either dissecting a design that you admire. Okay.

Or you don't admire.

Oh, okay, okay.

And, you know, dig into the thought process behind

it, and I think that's the key here, okay,

is to be able to dig into the design,

the thought process on what they're doing. Right.

So I'm trying to understand what they were doing, and

this is kind of how what I got out of

this, okay, is, you know, first off, you know, when

these guys are pitching, you know, the logo, be it

a present one or their customers are. Right.

First thing they're trying to do is they're trying to

identify the problems that they see in the logo.

And it's not like, something supervillains like, oh,

it's just not trendy like today's shit. Right.

Like, they're actually putting their

design chops behind it. Right. They're trying to.

They're talking about the weight, you know, the balance

between logos, the space, the relationship between it.

Right.

Understand, like, the core challenge, okay.

That, you know, the design is trying to address. Okay.

And then, you know, and then, honestly, you have to

try to learn how to appreciate the decision making behind

it, even though you don't have to agree with it. Right.

Okay.

But understand where they came from and try to

understand what they did to appreciate that final outcome.

And then, number two, kind of go through

and evaluate the choices that were made.

So this is where you design the.

Analyze the design elements, you look at the

colors, chosen, the typography, the layout, and try

to figure it out why they were chosen.

Again, good or bad.

Okay, number three, then try to reverse engineer

the steps on how they got there. Yes.

This is the goal.

So this is what this.

And I think this is the challenge. Right.

By reverse engineering and breaking

down the design process. Right.

You're trying to understand how, you know, what

was done to get to that workflow. Yeah. Okay.

To get to the workflow and the challenges

they face to get to that part. Okay.

So again, like, the reverse engineer, I

think, is key in this case. Right.

Like, why was this done?

You know, what else?

And again, that's, like, even, like, silly things,

like, the choices behind what they did, right.

Is a door company.

And is this supposed to represent a door in the logo?

Right. Why?

Alan did a great one about the elevator

customer, you know, with the up and down

arrows, which I thought was fucking mind blowing. Right?

So again, by looking, if you don't have

an Allen explaining this, right, try to reverse

engineer the thought process behind this. Okay?

Number four, then obviously consider the

audience that this is for. Okay?

You know, and again, and this allows you to reflect

on how the design meets that target audience, right.

Understand how it meets their needs, their preferences,

you know, the demographic, their likes, their hates.

Right.

And this number five. Right.

Start looking to see if you

can study past iterations of it. Okay.

And again, I always do that. Right.

And again, you know, a lot of the logos

that these guys are going on about, right?

They always show us the previous ones. One too. Right.

CJ showed us previous versions of some of the logos.

You know, I'm not sure if Alan did so much, but

I know I always look at past ones to see how

things have, you know, iterated and innovated over the years.

Right?

So I think this is key. Okay.

And then of course, push yourself

and ask what if questions. Okay.

And this is what I mean about, like,

you know, challenge the design itself by imagining

the different scenarios it could be in, right.

And the impact. Right.

What if, you know, we needed to see it like this.

What if, you know, we added that to it, right.

Start kind of like going down this rabbit hole

of what ifs, you know, for this actual design.

And then, you know, last but not least,

then apply it to your own work, right. Do. Do your own.

Apply your own work to that design, right.

And start kind of like mixing it all up.

This is where, you know, you see when, you know, when

Alan shows you his choices on what he did, right.

And how he addresses. Right.

But again, he never just got

there just by sitting down.

And he went through a process.

And while I didn't ask him through his

process, he taught through a lot of it.

So I kind of think that, you know,

in my opinion, a lot of it's trying

to identify the problem that was chosen.

You know, evaluate the choices that were made, you know,

reverse engineering the steps on how they got there.

Consider the audience, which could

obviously be first too.

That's just somewhere along the process.

Look to see if there's iterations that you can kind

of see a pattern that's kind of going from, of

course, ask what if anywhere you can and then apply,

you know, your own work to it. Right.

Apply it to your own, you know, apply these

steps to the stuff that you're doing, you know,

and see what you can come up with. Right.

But again, you're constantly thinking for yourself during

this process and trying to see what you

can come up with versus what's already there. Okay.

So I'm not just gonna go and apply a

recipe to a logo, a new logo project. Right.

Because again, it's not gonna work. Yeah.

If you just put it out there

without tasting it to your guests. You're right. How.

How good is that? You're right.

Salt on everything.

In my end opinion.

Big, bold, and salty.

That's how I like shit.

Oh, wait, we're talking about food or design here. Yeah.

Going back to your mother's recipe.

Oh, right, right.

But, yeah.

Like, these are. These are awesome.

And you can bet Allen uses some variation of these.

I think so.

And again, you know, maybe the next time

we talk, we'll actually go through this and

we'll make a point of it in the

future of actually asking him through this process.

But just from what I could see if I'd be applying, you

know, what they do to either an existing logo that I have

as a project or just, you know, a fictitious logo, or if

I was to apply it to, like, I don't know, the fucking

Amazon logo or the Nike logo or something. Right, right.

I kind of figure I would try

to go roughly something like this.

I mean, I'd love to hear if

anybody's got any other ideas on this.

Yeah, this is good.

I mean, again, this, you know,

this all promotes thinking for yourself. Okay.

This all, you know, not

following somebody else's recipe.

But, you know, figure this out for yourself.

I always appreciate when people share their process.

Okay. But I don't.

You know, what I don't appreciate is when people

try to sell me an already done solution and

be like, here you go, you know, recipe guaranteed.

Guaranteed, right. Can't lose.

And I'm a little worried. Right.

I get worried when I see that.

And I think that's why we're always.

We're pretty clear that, you know, the shit that we

recommend is only based on shit that worked for us.

Right.

By no means the right way to do it.

And this isn't the right way to, you know,

dissect or a design or whatever, but just this

is kind of what I think I saw.

Could be wrong.

This could be added to, but I

think that this is a good start

because, again, it's promoting that independent thing.

Yes, yes.

And now, I know you hate school and stuff like that.

But there's something to be said about a three

year program versus a 32nd short, don't you think?

Well, I think that.

Yeah, I think that there's a lot to be

said about a three year besides the cost involved.

I know, I know.

But there's an intention three year.

You know what I mean?

Like, you're immersed in it for three, three years.

There's a lot of benefit to school.

And, I mean, ultimately, I

saw this fantastic again here.

I'm going to quote Sylvester Stallone again. Right.

And it was.

No, and it was, you know, what

does, what does a three year education,

what does college actually show an employer? Right.

And it's not necessarily that it's showing an

employer, you know, hey, you got this now

certificate, and you are above everybody else.

What it's showing to an employer is that you can

commit yourself, show up every day, you know, complete a

list of tasks, do them in an above average format,

of course, because you have to pass. Right.

And do it consistently for three years.

I think that's what schooling is teaching you. Yeah.

You know, whether you learn school, you know, design

fundamentals or design principles at school or online.

You know, what I do think school gives you

is that consistency that I think people need, and

I think they can achieve that online as well.

Yeah, you can. But, but I'm.

But what I'm saying is not in

a 32nd short, which I think we. Oh, I agree.

In agreement on that.

Anyway, this is part of the

reason why you're, we're doing.

But, you know, it's funny, you

know, but what didn't work for.

Why did I have an issue with school,

but because they were very black and white.

They were very black and white. And it's not.

Graphic design is so subjective. It is.

And they were crazy crushing through free thinking

in my course, and I hated that.

I know, and I'm surprised at a reputable

institution, it's the one that you went to

that they would do something like that.

Oh, it was such a bad experience. It's sad. It was.

It's kind of sad.

And I hope school isn't like that now. Yeah.

I don't know.

And I wonder, you know, what a program would

be like now with what is happening online.

I would love to.

I'd love to see how it's keeping up.

I know this is the kind of stuff

where, like, how do you compete with that? Exactly.

Right.

But anyway, that may be a different topic. I don't know.

But it's about learning. When you talk, when you.

Yes, it's about learning.

That's exactly it.

Like, there's the.

The long game and then there's the short game.

That's not teaching you the right way to do things.

Well, exactly.

And you can't shortcut this shit.

You cannot shortcut.

So don't try to rely on this shit.

You rely on it for entertainment.

Rely on it. Yeah.

A loose guideline.

A loose guideline with flash and music and

some, you know, like, kind of fluff around

it and, you know, start there.

But don't let this shit get you down.

Don't let this shit, you know, make you feel

in any which way, you know, inadequate on what

you're creating and that the shit that you're doing

doesn't look as good as that stuff.

You know, don't let what you're seeing

online affect you in any which way,

because honestly, in my opinion, what.

What they're giving out online isn't 100% honest. Yes.

It isn't, you know, accurate.

It isn't a reflection of all jobs. It's just reflection.

Reflection of one job, particularly one job.

And guess what?

This formula worked for this

one situation, and that's it. That's it.

Don't assume that that formula is now, that design recipe

is going to work everywhere else, because the reality is,

I guarantee you, 99% of the time, it won't. Yeah.

And that's not your fault. Yeah.

It's the fault of the video and

the person who made the video.

That is, you know, maybe making it

for maybe not the right reason always.

Um, you know, I get it.

I understand why people would do that.

That makes sense because in their minds,

their theory is that it works. It works. Yeah.

One idea.

But this is the thing is, they're not being

honest and saying, for this particular job, this works.

Absolutely.

I think you should have that disclaimer on there. Yeah.

If you're doing something like that.

It's not like this. Catch all. This will work.

And grids do work. Grids.

Grids are very important gold.

So I totally understand that. Yeah.

Yeah, they do. Right. But again, let's.

Let's face it, there isn't just one grid.

There isn't just one grid. That's.

And that's what made that episode

really hard to figure out.

Because how do you explain to people

that there's grids with three columns, there's

grids with five, there's grids with 14.

Man, that was a lot to put.

But we'll get to that one day.

We will get to that. Yeah.

Needless to say, you know, you

know, please follow your heart.

Follow your intuition.

You know, whether you are a new

designer or whether you're an experienced designer.

Right.

Don't think that because your end result

isn't, you know, the same as the

end result of what you're seeing online.

Don't think that that's a reflection of your

ability and who you are as a designer. Okay.

Don't learn design education from shorts. No.

Plain and simple. Do not.

Maybe as a guideline to start. Yeah. Right.

Think for your own fucking self thereafter.

That's right.

Take it with a grain of salt. Yeah. Really?

I like that.

My mother would be proud.

Well, everybody, I would love to hear

what you have to say about this.

You know, tell us we're right, tell us we're wrong.

I don't really care.

This, again, this was an opinion episode.

And this shit, I kind of feel like, was

harming more than it was doing good out there,

and I felt like it needed to be said.

And this is good.

These seven ways of dissecting a design, right.

Literally always have that caveat in your mind

when looking at this kind of stuff. Honestly.

Learn how to think for yourself.

Learn how to identify these problems.

Figure out why they chose what they did.

Reverse engineer this shit.

Consider the audience that you're doing it for.

Study what they've done beforehand.

Ask what if questions to try

to, like, throw everything at it.

And last but not least, you know,

add your own flavors to it.

Follow this, you know, on your next project.

When you're trying to up hand, you know, up to somebody

else's old work or just for shits and giggles and something

you see and kind of take it to a new level. I think.

I think this is the thought mentality that

we need to see more promoted online.

Not necessarily, you know, recipes to success, because

I think that's all a bunch of bullshit.

Yeah, yeah. Cooled it. We called it. We called it.

Anyway, guys, you know, hit us up

on our website, by all means.

We're trying to, you know, develop a list so we can

build a good graphic design newsletter out there because I do

think that the world needs one and I haven't been able

to find one yet that I'm overly in love with.

So I'd love to hear your thoughts on this.

Drop us a line on our website, give us your

information, and be added to our list so that when

we do launch our first one or a second one,

you can tell us if you love it or hate

it and how to make it better and how make

it the best kick ass graphic design newsletter out there.

And, you know, hit us up on instagram, because

that's where we talk to everybody the most.

That's where we communicate.

We do love our personal messages, you know,

hit us up and again, tell us what

we're doing right and what we're doing wrong.

Not much, of course, but whatever.

Yeah.

With that being said, yes.

My name is Massimo.

And my name is Sean.

Stay creator and stay angry.

I want to be the greatest.

Everybody on the face shit.

I look around, I feel like everybody is the

fakers I make this every day and I'm impatient

hoping one day I blow one what?

From the basement statement the top is so vacant

I don't hear shit that I think is amazing.

Waiting for my day when I'm playing sold out shows

were a thousand faces hey, give me that crown.

Get in my way and to be put down it ain't

your place all this my town if I want that shit

then I'll get it right now I'm losing it the noose

if it's a moose to share the stupid me if you

choose to live or choose to dip you choose to fight

or lose your grip and lose a gift off I feel

like I'm losing my mind is everybody in the world?

Please, Lord, give me a signal.