One day, my kid goes to step on a bug. I said: You can’t smash Randy!
… and he looks at me with some quizzical stare. Who’s Randy? he asks. I reply: The bug! Everyone knows Randy. Randy, why are you out of the garden? You should go back! Do you need some help? … and my kid picks up the bug he was going to smash and escorts it to a nearby leaf.
[File under: Things that make me happy as an Instructor... in this case Heather's graphic avatar, Sgt. Twinkle]
Naming a thing confers dignity, a sense of purpose, and in some manner — a part to play.
Most things in my life have a name (and many things have a theme song) for this very reason. The hummingbirds that visit the window feeder are named Jerry (the red ones) and Sylvia (the green ones). All of the worms in the compost pile are named Stan. The stray cat one street over is Stephanie.
Taking this to the design world, I encourage my students to name things as well. That red color isn’t just magenta, it’s Shocking Pink. The graphic element isn’t just a green line, it’s The Underscore that underscores the significance of elements on the page. Concepts have names — concept-1 is boring whereas Modern Elegance is captivating. When you name something in your life as a designer — be it a line, shape, color, concept or variant — it gives you (and maybe your audience) the ability to relate to it a bit better.... to give this thing a sense of purpose in a design and help to plan what it’s next move might be.
Try it. Name that graphic element Steve … then later in your design system, when you’re looking at a discrete deliverable, you can say: Wait… where’s Steve? He’s totally go to get in on this action.
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