November 27, 2021
Read Time:
5 Minutes
I am a firm believer that for creativity to exist, one needs to have constraints. Think about life like a street you’re walking down. If the street were just empty and straight, you’d go from one end to another unfazed, not a care in the world..boring. But is it straight? No! There are potholes, tall brick walls, slippery sidewalks, your shoes are old with holes in them, there are real problems, obstacles that make it challenging to get down the block. You have all these things you have to deal with and still get to the end. When you’re trying to reach some destination there is undoubtedly something that will be between you and it, causing you to have to think of a way to overcome it. Human ingenuity is, in part, generated from the overcoming of obstacles that present themselves to us in pursuit of some goal.
When take the first step down the road of a design project you’ll find the same thing exists. Imagine a client came to you and said “I want a product”. Uh… what? You’d likely say “What problem are you trying to solve? Who’s it for? Whats it made out of?” You need something to even begin thinking about what it could be. Why do you need these things? Because all solutions are creative, believe it or not, and creativity only happens where there are constraints. The mere act of creating a solution is an act of creation.
When working through these projects our frame of mind is critical to how we understand and solve problems. It is important to fall in love with constraints and make sure they’re laced into the DNA of your solutions. Do not be scared of constraints, don’t avoid them, and don’t look at them as an afterthought. Any thing you thought of as a limitation, reframe it into an asset. I would even go so far as to say that If you don’t have constraints, or the ones you have aren’t giving you strong direction, then you need to build your own.
I was working on the FENWICK shoe. I had a beautiful design that couldn’t wait to be pushed forward with complex features and sewing details. There were inspiration books with post-it note tabs, sketches stacked to the ceiling and CAD drawings designating out where I wanted to go. In my mind, I could almost taste the sleek custom sole, slightly translucent in certain places (references the YEEZY 380) with a perfect combination of futuristic and familiar. When it finally came time to send off my techpack to the manufacturer, there was excitement and elation. I knew the world would be floored by my creation.
Then the manufacturer said, “That will be $1400...”. Okay not bad. “and that’s per size. How many sizes do you need?” 10. “Oh, and also, we need you to order a minimum of 300 pairs.” I hit my first constraint. The custom soles I had designed would run me $14,000 alone not including the full order of the shoes. That’s just the molds.
“What’re my options?”
In the footwear industry, there is a practice called “open molds” which utilize molds that footwear development companies offer for use by potential clients. This allows you to circumvent the cost of creating a new size range of molds and makes getting your minimum order more achievable. The downside is that if you must pick from what they have, no more custom translucent future shoe. Or so I thought. See, this is where falling in love with constraints comes into play. Instead of being distraught and giving up, I doubled down. “I’m going to find the coolest sole I can. Something as close to my design as possible and redesign parts of my upper to make them complementary.” The constraint was cost. This forced me to work with what I was given, leading to objective design decisions while still creating something original for the world. While it wasn’t necessarily the path I envisioned, I embraced the perceived roadblocks. Had I not gone through the process of rethinking my upper to compliment an open mold sole, I wouldn’t have made some of the changes that are now some of my favorite aspects of the shoe.
Seldom does a client come to you with a total blue sky. There will certainly be some constraints: budget, time, style, references. But often that can still leave a wide open creative field, and you standing there not sure which direction to go. Some people can shell out ideas left and right, others have a tougher time creating a multitude of divergent concepts. Here are some tips regardless of who you are.
Step 1: Simplify Interactions: Maybe you’re designing some hardware with buttons on it. Is there a place to combine or stack button functionality? Are there redundant actions through the product that would be solved by removing or reorienting some feature set. Take Apple’s Magic Mouse for example, instead of engineering a physical scroll wheel and separate left and right music click buttons, they worked with a constraint of: How would this look as one continuous surface?
Step 2: Relate strictly to their brand principles: There is a lot of ammo when constraining yourself in this way. I wrote a previous article about timeless design where I stressed the importance of brands having strong principles. This can be huge for constraining shape, material, color, style decisions. Say you’re designing a logo for a dog food company. What if all your ideations were variants or a paw shape? Find the purest essence of your client and restrict yourself to designing around that concept. Not only do companies love when their brand manifests novel ways, but it can also give them new insights on what design decisions can really embody their principles.
Step 3: Maximize Accessibility: This is not only relevant but in some cases it will even be necessary. Is your user missing a limb? How about their vision, is it partially or fully impaired? There are a lot of basic functions that designers with full faculties may take for granted. Even if it isn’t asked, explore what it could look like to design against these constraints.
You may be wondering why I chose a picture of soul food at the top of this article. In the deep south during the slave trade and throughout slavery. Black American’s only had access to the bottom of the barrel food ingredients. Small rations, leftovers from owners and wealthier folk, and limited cooking resources forced slaves to work with what they had. My ancestors used what they were given and instead of seeing them as boundaries they turned these into delicacies that today we know internationally as Soul Food.
There are times when I’ve certainly been disappointed by constraints and felt they were holding back a beautiful design solution. As I get further into my career I realize the constraints are as much a part of the design as the beautiful features and finishes we love to put on them. Understanding the constraints can push you to learn more about your design process, manufacturing techniques, or innovative technologies. Almost always, the things you have to overcome have valuable lessons within them.
When we lean into constraints it can reground our concepts into something purposeful. High level design is far from a styling exercise. Truly memorable solutions are impactful. Impact is generated by being in complete harmony with all that goes into making a final product. Use constraints to create stronger design solutions that tell a story. Constraints create purpose, not only in projects but in life. Some of our greatest ideas or thoughts came from when we were under the gun about something and needed to come with a solution. Never be scared of a wall, sometimes they’re meant to lean on.