Baubles, Bangles and Doodads: The Strategy of Ornamentation

Design is not decoration. Design is not just pretty pictures. Every design decision should have a function; something you can explain and defend. 

“Good Design is as little design as possible.” – Dieter Rams

Thankfully, my creative colleagues at Grown don’t say any of these things. We think ornamentation, maximalism, and adding little details we like that no one asked for, does have purpose. Lingering is purpose. Looking closer is function. Smiling at little details that don’t “need” to be there (but just are) is strategy.

This is Doodad Philosophy.

THE NAME

About a year ago, as Dan Rayfield was designing a website for the St. Louis neighborhood where our office is located, South Grand, he asked me to make some more (as he called them) “doodads” to add to the pages. Flowers, sandwiches, shapes, little lightning bolts. Some little embellishments to reflect the buzzing, slightly chaotic energy of the neighborhood. This felt new. Freeing. We’re adding extra things? To a website? I thought that wasn’t allowed. I thought someone was supposed to jump out of a Jira card and hit us with a ruler if we did that. But here we were, adding Doodads. Sure, it made sense for the brand, but it was also just fun. And one thing we’ve noticed about fun things is that people really seem to like them.

“And one thing we’ve noticed about fun things, is that people really seem to like them.”

So we kept adding Doodads. All different kinds of them, to all kinds of things. They might be visuals, they might be copy. The point is that they’re extra.

We added Doodads to images, page numbers, wallpaper, menus, websites, books, packaging, even to our office. They appeared as a reverse-Marie Kondo-ing, where you keep adding more things that keep sparking even more joy.

DOs & DON’Tdads

I’m not suggesting we’d add boi yoi yoing SFX to a heart monitor app, or a confetti party button to an air traffic controller’s interface. We’re not unreasonable Doodads people. But where we can, and when we should, and… if we want, we do. It’s not an exact science. There’s no process chart to explain when to use Doodads. In fact, if you want access to our Proprietary Ornamentary Strategy, you don’t even need to sign an NDA. Just start ploppin’. Go ahead. Plop a Doodad on that page. What’s the worst that could happen? Now try another. Feels good right? Now make the smallest type you’ve ever seen and turn it upside down and put it in the margins. When someone says, “No one’s gonna read that,” you can respond, “Someone might.”

In order to fight authoritarianism where it matters (graphic design) perhaps it’s time to speak truth to Helvetica. And the truth is that an immediate hit-you-over-the-head “read” isn’t always the singular goal. Another truth is that you will inevitably appear unappealing to some in order to appeal to others. Yes, many will skim and miss the small details, but some will feel invited to look a little bit closer and be delighted by what they find. Some will find the “unnecessary” elements fun and surprising, and others will see it as fluff. People are different. You can’t control everything. Stop hitting me with your ruler!

WE WERE HERE

The embellishment lifestyle is about making rich, layered work that respects people’s intelligence and curiosity. It’s about not assuming “people don’t read,” or won’t care or notice you put in the extra effort. Maybe we are going for the exact people who will notice. It’s about making things you like, hoping other people like, and not worrying too much about adhering to bEsT pRaCtIcEs. If any of this distresses you, you are welcome to go arrange a bookshelf by spine color to decompress. Again, please stop hitting me with your ruler. There are no guidelines in the world of Doodaddery. You go by feel. These intuitive digital knick-knacks live inside us all (except Dieter Rams), waiting to be set free.

Our industry often falsely separates the creators from the creative, because we pretend to sublimate our egos in the service of the company, client, or audience. But clearly, we aren’t separate from the work. The individuals who make things, through their toil as hunched, late-night silhouettes, cannot help but create expressions of themselves. Our work is an extension of how we think, what we love, and how we choose to spend our lives. We aren’t just conduits through which strategery flows. We have hearts and feel all kinds of things about what we create and who we create it for. And all those feelings can’t be contained in brand guidelines or a bunch of rules about what constitutes necessary vs. unnecessary design. Sometimes the feelings burst from your soul, manifesting in little floating flowers or gold embossed stickers or secret hidden jokes in 5pt font. And you call that unnecessary?!

From gorgeous and tasteful to silly and playful, these added extraneous details make our work feel made by people. Not a template we bought or something prooompted into existence. No! Doodads fight against the dying of the light. They were placed there by real, live, breathing humans who cared a lot about what they were doing. They’re like fingerprints. A note that “we were here.” A cosmic reach across a vast divide. We think a Call to Action means a lot more when the person on the other end cares about what you’ve made for them.

Believe it or not, adding swirly-twirly design elements isn’t always what we do. But when it makes sense, we embrace the possibility of extra flourishes and especially extra effort to make something sing. Doodads are a strategy to make our work more meaningful to others, and to us. We know not everyone will appreciate the little details. But some… will love them.