Design is the process of reducing choice.

The easier it is to imagine something done differently, the more there is room for improvement. Before a design is finished, there are infinite possibilities; after it’s made, it feels inevitable.



Jon Favreau had to fight Marvel to cast Robert Downey Jr. as Iron Man. He said that “he was not the obvious choice”. Can you imagine anyone else in the role?

Because the initial set of possibilities is infinite (and half of infinite is still a lot), it’s bad practice to ask clients to choose from several options; that is the designer’s job.

Infinite possibilities also mean that making random design choices is hard. Any given design requires several small and big decision colour, typography and layout. Deciding randomly is harder than using a process.

Any process is better than no process.