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Design Writing & Blog

︎︎︎ The Politics of Typography
︎︎︎ Designing with Intent
︎︎︎ The function of...Beauty
︎︎︎ Idea by Committee
︎︎︎ What they don’t teach you in design school.
︎︎︎ Mastering an iteritive process  

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1. A simple task

We started with a simple task. A grid, and three square frames. Using only circles and rectangles, create a sequence of black-and-white images that convey an idea.

Two weeks into this first course in the graphic design department at University of the Arts, as students, we were taken aback by our professor’s response to our work for the week. Exploring a simple triptych of progressive circles and rectangles the professor broke his silence…“The rhythm in this third composition feels a bit un-considered...I can see a relationship between the first two, but this last one doesn’t make sense with the others.”

But how can something so simple and abstract make sense? Only after several weeks of classes, revisions, assignments, and critiques did the phrase become clear. The purpose of this course was to educate students — with no knowledge of design — on how to create imagery that fits within a system. Imagery that belongs together and as a whole speaks a narrative greater than its individual parts¹. A sequence of images, following the same core rules, and which communicate an idea. This was “Design” at its very essence.

This course was where I truly learned to appreciate the foundational principle of “Designing with Intent”. This principle has guided my every design decision throughout my career and education. Time and time again, it has been my philosophy, and in many ways has been the foundation upon which I have developed additional design approaches. But what does it mean?

2. The Good

To design with intent means to make every single decision purposeful and intentional. To commit to never doing anything without consideration…never lazy…never a short-cut. To receive a brief and always make decisions that satisfy the intended outcomes. But why? Why be so strict on yourself? Because being unintentional communicates that we are okay with a lack of consistency. What Business is okay with that?

What intent means is that every decision must begin with the following consideration: “What are we trying to communicate?” This goes back to the initial assignment in that class. In some cases the answer is not known. In some, it is given to you clearly. If it’s not known, the design work begins by figuring it out. But let’s focus on when it is known.

When the intended outcome is known, designing with intent becomes fairly simple. EVERY SINGLE design decision that you are making must always be objectively analyzed as either communicating the idea, or not. And often these decisions are nested within a greater intended outcome. For example in product work, not only are you trying to provide an excellent branded experience (another topic for another day), you are also communicating the core values of your company and brand in every single pixel that you place. This is how you ensure that your brand is consistent, and that you are never missing a beat.

Designing with intent is scalable down to the smallest and up to the biggest decisions. For instance: rounded stroke ends and rounded corners. Deciding what your brand’s approach is to those seemingly small tasks is actually quite the decision. Rounded shapes tend to look “friendlier / more casual”. Straight corners are more of a “default”. One of those applies to your brand more than the other…and it’s something to be considered. And importantly, if it’s unconsidered and there is no rule by which to be consistent: that will communicate something else entirely.

Designing with intent allows a brand to permeate every single decision, touchpoint, and moment that the company has. 

The Good:
Flor by Firebelly Design

Possibly the best branding project I have seen has to be the branding for Flor, a custom modular rug company who clearly values good design. Done by Firebelly Design, the branding consists of a core idea to communicate (again, the class assignment). “Modular Rugs: Modular Brand.” From this starting point, every single design decision in the branding project is made with the intent of communicating that very idea.

Starting with the logo, they have taken a modular approach. The letters are designed to all fit perfectly inside of an interchangeable square grid. The style (style is another topic entirely) and way that these letters are drawn is elegant, smart, and sophisticated. Three attributes that the brand is looking to communicate. Again…Intentionality.

But the modularity does not stop at the logo. This modular grid approach is present in every single application that the company touches. The posters are designed on a modular grid, with modular typography. The door signage follows the same grid. The custom font for the brand is designed on a grid. The business cards follow it. See where I’m going? Every decision was made with intent. And there is not a moment of inconsistency to be found, at least not among the case study.

3. The Bad:

This redesign of the Tropicana logo and packaging made its viral rounds on the internet for failing pretty hard. Of course, we have no context of how exactly this project ended up in this place visually…when working with big companies or existing brands you have about five million people to satisfy, a ton of voices making suggestions…and well it just seems like a horribly un-fun thing to do.

So let’s just look at this and decide to ourselves what and why this redesign doesn’t work. What does Tropicana stand for…and what do they want to promote? When I think of Tropicana I think of tasty, non-concentrated, slightly more expensive but worth it, Orange Juice. At least, that’s why my Mom always bought it.

The redesign takes what looks like a standard juice carton meant for people who shop at Publix / Walmart / Kroger’s…and turns it into a Swiss Design modernist shitshow designed by a graphic designer who just watched the Helvetica documentary. While the audience wouldn’t pick up on the Helvetica bit, they certainly would notice that this carton suddenly looks a bit pretentious.

What this redesign ends up communicating to the intended audience is that the company is now a more expensive, self-righteous upscale version of its former self. As designers we need to understand associations (associations will be studied in a later blog) that our audiences have in the back of their heads. When you apply swiss typography to a heartland brand…Well sorry Massimo, but you fucking kill it. How’s that for vulgarity?

In closing…make every design intentional…consider the un-considered…and always put your audience first. Your goal is to communicate to your audience. And it’s your responsibility to put yourself into their shoes and their mindsets. Make every design decision with intent. Small and large.



Matthew Roop is a designer and creative leader serving as V.P. of Brand at ZEBEDEE. He has worked for some of the most famous names in the design world like Sagmeister & Walsh, Lippincott, Foreign Policy, and &Walsh. When he’s not working you can find him chowing down on some Singaporean cuisine, helping his wife run their design studio: Yeye Design Studio, or most likely, playing Elden Ring.