K.I.S.S.

No, not that kind of kiss. This kiss is an acronym: keep it simple, stupid.

I am a firm believer that this should be taught in every classroom across the globe. Now, I know that this would cause some issues with proper classroom etiquette norms, but let's just forget about those for now. I personally wish that I would have had someone drill this into my head at a younger age. Unfortunately I did not, and I now have the annoying habit of overthinking just about everything.

I'm sure that I'm not the only one who has the tendency to get hung up on details and therefore fail to see the entire picture. As a student, this can add extra anxiety to already difficult projects such as papers and tests. As a young woman, this can add extra confusion to social situations. "What did that mean?" "Was she just being nice, or was she being sarcastic?" As an aspiring graphic designer, this could spell out complete and utter failure for me in my chosen career path. Nobody wants an ugly, cluttered website. Nobody wants a poster that has too many words or pictures. Everyone wants clean, simple lines and streamlined content that gets their message across quickly and easily.

But how do you accomplish that?

There are so many elements that one has to consider when creating a design. How do you satisfy the need for color, text, images, animations, and that extra 'touch' that will make your work stand out from everyone else's? How do you accomplish that, while still keeping the entire project simple?

The best advice that I've been given so far at North Central was told to me only yesterday: "If you can remove elements from your design while it still retains the message it was created to convey, you most likely have added to much."

In other words, less really is more--and don't forget that. Simplicity is a universal language that is always appealing to the audience.

So, Keep It Simple, Stupid.