Francisco Inchauste writes frequently about design issues on his blog designinformer.com. Recently he struck on a fabulous metaphor for a question many people have about design. You see, many people question whether or not design can be taught or even put into words sufficiently for people to learn its principles. Let Francisco tell you his story in his own words:
“Many years ago I received a tree identification book for Christmas. The first tree in the book was the Joshua tree because it took only two clues to identify it. Now the Joshua tree is a really weird-looking tree and I looked at that picture and said to myself, ”Oh, we don’t have that kind of tree in Northern California. That is a weird-looking tree. I would know if I saw that tree, and I’ve never seen one before.”
So I took my book and went outside. I had lived in that house for thirteen years, and I had never seen a Joshua tree. I took a walk around the block, and there must have been a sale at the nursery when everyone was landscaping their new homes — at least 80 percent of the homes had Joshua trees in the front yards. And I had never seen one before. Once I was conscious of the tree, once I could name it, I saw it everywhere. Which is exactly my point. Once you can name something, you’re conscious of it. You have power over it. You own it. You’re in control.”
What Francisco is telling us, if I am reading this right, is that design is a lot like the Joshua Tree; it requires a bit of study to learn the basics, but once you see it and recognize it for what it is, you begin to see it everywhere and even begin to put these tools to work in your photography. I couldn't agree more and I would encourage you to visit Francisco's site and consider his ideas for yourself.
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