Every idea is only as good as its execution. It doesn’t matter how great the idea – for an advertisement, a website, a sales letter, or ad campaign if its execution detracts from the intent or purpose of the idea itself.
For example, a poorly designed website communicates volumes to the visitor that the owner or designer never intended – or even thought of. The dated design, the confusing user experience, the encyclopedic copy keeps the visitors focus on the lamentable execution rather than the message or intent of the site itself.
An overly designed or decorated website or advertisement is often an attempt to mask the lack of content or creativity. Often designers will overuse fonts, colors, and other design elements to try and make their work look more professional, but in reality it only highlights an amateur design.
Effective ideas in design and in writing always come from taking away everything that doesn’t help or add to the communication or purpose of the work itself. The most effective ideas are those that are reduced to the simplest and most essential elements required to achieve its purpose.
[endorsement cite=”Antoine de Saint-Exupery”]A designer knows he has achieved perfection not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.[/endorsement]
