I came across this short post from Tim Brown today and I had to call it out because he hits on what I think is a very important point:
Diligence and reason are valuable, but “punk, DIY” freedom from measurement is also valuable. Part of our job as designers is to negotiate a balance between the careful and the care-free.
Yes! “punk DIY” is such a perfect way to describe it.
Web designers, don’t forget your DIY punk rock roots! Most of us are self-taught or stumbled into this industry because we thought it was fun. That’s pretty punk rock when you think about it.
Make things because you want to. Make things just to see what happens. Don’t be afraid to break the rules if they aren’t working for you. Hell, feel free to abandon them completely if they’re holding you back. We need that too.
If your design doesn’t follow to any particular ratio, design theory system, or current industry trend, that doesn’t instantly disqualify it as bad or wrong. If it feels right, it could very well be right. And that’s just as ok as design that results from careful bits of math.
The article Tim references in his post, Design, objectivity and the punk spirit, is also a good read on exactly this kind of thing.
