Sahand NayebazizWell-roundedness is a quality difficult to quantify. It’s not enough to follow somebody’s many pursuits; you have to understand their many sides and know the stories of their life. Perhaps after all of that, you can start to see the richness of the single person and the many angles reflecting in their movements.
Tomorrow, the coronation of King Charles III will take place and emblazoned throughout the ceremony, the imagery, and the artifacts will be its official emblem—an emblem designed by Sir Jony Ive KBE and LoveFrom.
Knowing what we know about Jony Ive, I see this as an inspirational-shooting-star of well-roundedness. People who categorize these things would call making an emblem “logo design” and making a phone “hardware design”, two disciplines not known or expected to collaborate. And yet, what a splendid sight.
In the past I’ve been self conscious, interrogating myself about whether any good designer would spend time learning how to surf or if, strangely, any good surfer would spend time learning how to design. Creating the cookie-cutting tools out of my mind’s own metal shop, I sought to remove parts of me to bring out the lines that would prove me to be the type of person I wanted to be. Now that I’m older, I know that it’s those rounded, hanging-off, un-cookie-cut shapes of who I am that make me unique.
In designing, we bring forward our experiences. Every connection we make between the very many things we’ve seen gives us just that bit more of chance we’ll make something great. We should allow ourselves to blend activities, interests, and knowledge that maybe we’ve never seen blended before.
The typography and color on this emblem are beautiful. There’s even more to read on the typeface itself. And there’s a freedom by example in the whole thing—you can be as well-rounded as you want to be.
This week, I wanted to leave you with this message. I hope you find something inspiring here that you can mix into your own design work. Thank you for reading UI Designer Weekly. —S
Jony Ive · Coronation · LoveFrom · Well-roundedness · Self-consciousness
