CF #16: A lesson on visual hierarchy and originality

3 useful tools

1) MyMind

​MyMind is the extension for your mind. Easily bookmark anything that inspires you. Images, links, notes, videos, quotes, PDFs, articles.

"No folders, no collections, no wasted time organizing. It works like your real mind." -MyMind

2) FakeClients

The best fake project generator out there. Generate briefs for web design, graphic design, logo design, UI/UX, illustration, and even writing.

A super valuable tool to practice your creative process or create mock projects to beef up your portfolio.

3) Fathom Analytics

I can't stand Google Analytics. It's way too busy, complex & confusing.

​Fathom is a simple, one-pager, privacy-focused (no cookie banner needed) alternative to Google Analytics.

It's what I'm currently using for the Creatorfuel website.

You'll love it.

3 effective tips & techniques

1) If everything is important, then nothing is important: A lesson on visual hierarchy

I use a tool called Ubersuggest to do keyword research for my blog.

When you log in, this is what you see:

That's the dashboard.

It's supposed to give you an overview of how your website is doing SEO-wise.

I always ignore the dashboard and navigate over to the keyword research tool.

Why do I skip over the dashboard you ask?

Well, because it's so uninviting.

Never even cared to look at what it says.

It's cluttered beyond belief. I don't know where to even start looking.

Some of the problems:

• Small, equal-sized headings
• Decorated/bold text everywhere
• A multitude of different colors
• Unnecessary separators
• Tiny body text
• No negative space

It's horrible.

Again, here it is:

What I would change:

• Increase the heading size differences –– Clearer hierarchy
• Less content columns –– Having so many columns interrupts the vertical momentum of moving down the page
• Less text decoration –– If everything is important, then nothing is important
• Bigger body text –– 11px is way too small
• Less colors –– Reduces visual noise
• Less unnecessary icons –– Again, visual noise
• Less unnecessary separators (Like lines and BG colors) –– Let white space create separation

I inspected the page and quickly made the above changes.

It's not perfect, but way better:

2) 10 actionable habits that will ACTUALLY skyrocket your creativity

1. Start an inspiration stash. See something you like? Screenshot it and add it to your stash. MyMind, which i recommended earlier, is perfect for this.
2. Copy things you like
3. Modify things you like
4. Combine things you like
5. Keep everything you’ve ever created in one place
6. Never get attached to anything you create
7. Remember that nobody knows all the design theory by heart just like how the best programmers still Google things after every few lines of code.
8. Remember that everything is just undetected plagiarism (via Austin Kleon)
9. Read UX studies to balance out your creative thinking with evidence-based thinking (nngroup & Baymard Institute are my favorites)
10. It’s all about having the right systems and creative processes in place. Find someone with good credentials, steal their systems, and build upon them. Steal my process for creating beautiful layouts.​

3) I created the most important table on visual hierarchy on the internet. Period.

(Inspired by Orbitmedia's take on the topic)

3 ideas to think about

1) Happiness is a temporary emotion.

We experience spikes in emotion throughout the day.

We all have a daily baseline level of happiness. Most people live their life between a 3 to 7 out of 10. This is called your hedonic setpoint.

After positive or negative events in our lives and a subsequent increase in positive or negative feelings, people return to their baseline. This is called hedonic adaption.

Example: Money DOES buy happiness but only in the short-term.

The difference between our hedonic setpoint and the current event we just experienced is what determines the intensity of the emotion

via ScienceDirect​

2) Earn your leisure. It'll feel terrific.

3) "A man can stand anything, except a succession of ordinary days." -Wolfgang von Goethe

Shower thoughts

1) If two people each find the other person’s laugh funny, it might result in an endless cycle of laughter.

2) Advertising the very first colored TV’s on a black and white TV must have been hard.

3) Computers are considered smart if they think like humans and humans are considered smart if they think like computers.

Via Reddit