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I thought those weird 'ugly design' mood boards were a joke until I tried one
For months I kept seeing these messy, clashing mood boards on design sites and thought they were just people trying too hard. I mean, who wants to look at bad clip art and clashing colors for ideas? But last week I was stuck on a project for a local coffee shop in Portland and decided to make one as a joke. I threw in some 90s word art, a weird beige color, and a photo of a dusty old couch. Somehow, looking at what I hated helped me see what I actually wanted. I ended up with a clean, modern look I never would have found staring at nice stuff. Has anyone else had a weird trick like that actually work for them?
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karen4107mo ago
That sounds like a great way to waste time to me. If you know what you hate, you already know what you like, so just start there. All that ugly noise just gives you more bad ideas to sort through later. I've seen people get so stuck on the "wrong" path they can't find their way back to a good one. It's cleaner to look at good examples and figure out why they work.
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campbell.oscar7mo ago
Honestly that tracks for Portland, where the best ideas come from staring at a bad thrift store painting! It's like your brain gets so offended it has to build something better just to feel clean again. I do a similar thing by looking at the most boring corporate websites I can find when I need a creative jumpstart. Something about all that sad gray just makes me want to make the complete opposite.
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