I overdesign first, then clean it up

When I start a design, I often go a bit too far. Too many colors, too much finesse, too many ideas at once. But that’s intentional.

I like starting wide. Pushing it a little. Trying everything. Not because the final result should be overdesigned, but because that’s how I figure out what actually works.

I like to think of it as a kind of visual improvisation. I throw in things that probably don’t belong, test ideas that are too much, and stretch the limits of what the surface can take. Then I come back the next day and clean it up.

It usually feels more intuitive than trying to perfect things as I go. When I’m too strict too early, I stall. It’s like I sabotage my own flow by trying to make something “clean” before I know what it even is.

Design isn’t about staying safe the whole way through. It’s about being willing to make something messy and awkward, then going back and cutting it down to what really matters.

More often than not, I end up with something pretty simple. But I wouldn’t have found it without digging through all the unnecessary stuff first.