Empty spaces represent a lot of things; fresh beginnings, clarity, possibilities and most of all promise. They carry the potential to turn into anything that one wants them to be. All that one needs is a vision and the determination to keep striving towards it. However, when it comes to creative industries like Design, change is constant and this can throw a lot of designers off-track. They key is to keep an open mind and welcome these changes. This helps you in expanding your creative horizons and evolving that vision into perhaps something better. In his debut book, Stefano Virgilli pens down his experiences, in both Italy and Singapore, from his decade long journey in the Design industry. He addresses issues relevant to designers at any stage in their career, whether they are starting out or are industry veterans. So no matter what kind of a designer you are, this book encourages you to open up your visual spectrum so that you can understand that empty space of yours. http://bit.ly/tpoes

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4. INTRo- 15
DUCTION
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This book is about my thoughts on design. The experiences I have had reflect not only on
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Design is an industry that excites me with its
possibilities. Yet, it can be frustrating because
design and technology, but also on business
and culture - and the way these factors inter-
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of the limitations that audiences, clients, and mingle when it comes to creating design.
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we - as designers - put on ourselves.
I didn’t intend to write this book as a textbook I hope to inspire other designers
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or guide. It’s simply a consolidation of insights - and non - designers to observe
- of my contribution to design, and of my per- the world through a similar lens,
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spectives on how this industry has evolved and to understand how design and its corol-
before my eyes. I started in the industry about laries are changing the way we communi-
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eighteen years ago. I worked in design in my cate visually.
native country of Italy before moving to
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Singapore, where I live now.
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6. 17 understanding
this
book
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I’ve used examples from my own experiences You could be working independently, in an
in this book, because I believe that experi- agency, or in a corporate environment. Per-
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ences make designers who they haps you work in advertising only, or in social
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are. I’ve also used examples from what I’ve media only. Even more specifically - you could
seen around me, and what I observe in my be creating tablet applications for hospitals.
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world. As far as possible, I’ve tried to keep
technicalities out of it because I don’t want The propensity for design has multiplied to in-
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technology to become the focus of design. clude a huge range of industries and areas,
to an extent that has not been observed be-
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However, on some occasions, technicalities fore. This means that the term ‘design’ also
are requisite - and in these cases, I have kept has to expand in the same way. We need to
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things as simple as possible. When I refer to be able to understand ‘design’ in the way that
the term ‘design’ in this book, I am referring it applies to the world today, because that un-
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to a variety of design types - not just static de- derstanding will shape the way in which we
sign. So I could mean video, animation, web create, buy, sell and use design.
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design, or mobile application design - any-
thing that is to do with visual communication.
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The reason for this is that the
term
‘designer’ has evolved in many
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ways over the past decade. For
example, at one time, being a designer
meant only one or two things. Now, you could
be a web designer, or a mobile application
designer. You could do front end or back
end design.

7. A good designer can bring
three things to the table:
1. Experience 3. Talent
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2. Technical knowledge

8. 19 can
i do
it
myself?
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To some people, design is deeply personal. These are great projects in terms of giving
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But when it comes to selling a product or com- young designers a chance to try out their
municating a message, design should skills. And, in fact, I recommend that
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be clear. And it’s not always possible to
DIY design - especially when you want de-
starting designers do all the free
work they can lay their hands
on, because that is really the only way to get
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sign with value.A young, gifted designer with
a lot of technical knowledge cannot hope to experience and exposure in the industry. You
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command the rates of a veteran designer - need to try things out with your own hands
because no matter how talented and experiment to create a frame of refer-
you are, you cannot become an
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ence for yourself.
expert in a month. An experienced
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and knowledgeable designer with little innate
design talent cannot match a designer with
all three components.
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Ten years ago, a startup could decide to cre-
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ate a website or a business card - and choose
to have it done for free with minimal conse-
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quences. Students, young designers, and
even your nephew or niece who dabbles in
design software are common sources for free
or low-cost design. “It’s just the website,” or
“The business card doesn’t have to look that
nice,” are common sentiments that accom-
pany these projects.

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3
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INCE
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XPER
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10. 21 can
i do
it
myself?
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However, what often happens when the start- This could be expressed in more years of
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up becomes more valuable is that there is
suddenly a disparity between the design and
experience,or greater talent, or more technical
skills, or fluency in more software, or more pro-
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the company. When the company starts get- jects that the designer has worked on, or more
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ting more revenue, and the website or business awards that the designer has gotten. The point
cards are still the ones that you got for free - is that design - and designers - take on greater
then you end up with an imbalance between value when those components take on great-
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the value of the company and the value of er value. This means that comparing designers
the design. according to price becomes a moot point.
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This brings me to my point that design has val- It’s only natural that an experienced design-
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ue. That value is determined by the three com- er will charge more than a young designer -
ponents which I mentioned earlier - experi- because there is more value there. And the
ence, technical knowledge, and
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design itself will become more valuable. It will
talent. It then comes down to a simple math- mean more. It will represent more. It will com-
ematical equation - design has higher
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municate more, and there’s a higher chance
value when those components that it will be more effective than a shot in the
represent greater numbers. dark by a less experienced designer.

11. Design Serifs are semi-structural details on the ends of some of the
strokes that make up letters and symbols. A typeface with
serifs is called a serif typeface (or serifed typeface). A type-
Facts face without serifs is called sans serif or sans-serif.
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14. 25 the
realities
of
starting
off
irg y.
in design
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Becoming a designer is a process in itself. They learn software. Then, they try to become
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Many people ask me how I became a de-
signer, and how designers get a foothold in
very good at the software. Many new de-
signers learn it very well. They become fluent
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the industry. This question is a common one in the tools, and know how to apply effects,
because of the way the industry has evolved. transform shapes, and animate. They know
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all about the definitions of software terms and
First, there is more competition than ever. they know how to create a certain look. Then
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There are so many designers, so comes the first project, and then the first few
many softwares, and so many projects.
opportunities. Therefore, there
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are also so many threats to a Suddenly, the new designer enters
designer. It is only natural, therefore, for a startup phase when his or her
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a new designer to look at the industry he or work isn’t as good as expected.
she is stepping into, and ask the question, If this has happened to you - or if it’s still
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“How?” When it comes to answering this ques- happening to you - rest assured that this is
tion, one of the first things new designers do a part of the natural learning progression
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is something quantifiable, measurable, and - of design and that it is a necessary part of
they believe - transferable. your experience.
Some of the things that you might experience
are that you’ll feel that you’re do-
ing the right things and moving
in the right direction, but some-
thing will always be missing.

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Bleed refers to the information that etends pass the point
where the page will be trimmed,and allows color or
images to continue to the very edge of the cutpage.

16. Design
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die
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Mainly used for decorative purposes, a die cut can
enhance the visual impact of a design through the
creation of interesting shapes, apertures or edges.

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18. 29 the
realities
of
starting
off
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in design
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“It’s not quite right,” and “Something is wrong Once again, I urge all new designers to rest
assured, because this is a completely
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here,” are very common thoughts that you’ll
have. You may also find yourself assessing natural and normal phase of
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yourself with every design that you do. You starting up. This phase of self-assessment
may see every piece of design as a reflection and self-critique is part of the process of be-
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of yourself as a designer, or of your design coming a designer - and it’s a necessary one
worth. No matter how well you know the soft- when you’re stepping into the field. It’s hap-
ware, and how much expertise you have with pening for a number of reasons.
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the tools, you might not know which ideas to
build up. Firstly, it’s likely that you’ve flipped through the
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pages of a design magazine and seen great
It’s likely that you’ll have an abundance of design. You might have been inspired by it.
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ideas, but you’ll be unsure of how to express Then, you look at the design you’ve just cre-
them or which ones to combine in each de- ated and you tend to compare the two. This
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sign. This syndrome often results in staring leads to the second reason- you may be a
blankly at the screen, or creat- gifted designer, or have an eye for colour, or
ing random designs that you’re you may know the software insideout. And
not a hundred percent satisfied that’s why you wonder. “How come I’m sup-
with. You may not have anything to com- posedly a good designer, but I can’t produce
pare yourself or your designs with because work that I’m happy with?” “How come I have
you haven’t worked on enough projects. the best tools at my disposal but I can’t create
something special?”

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20. 31 the
realities
of
starting
off
irg y.
in design
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As you venture further into the world of being You may have a very clear idea of the design
a designer, you’ll find that the tools in your mind but when you execute it, you’ll
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themselves are not enough. You find a disconnection between your vision and
may find yourself getting frustrated with the the result. This stage disappoints many new
software, or just using the same tools again designers - you may feel that you’re not good
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and again to create design. At some point, enough at the tools, for example. You may
though, there will be a breakthrough. You will feel anxious - what if the market isn’t ready,
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start to envision a project in your head, but or if people don’t accept your idea? What if
you won’t go straight to the tools. You’ll start you’re convinced of the design but the client
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with the idea, and then use the tools as a isn’t?
means to represent and recreate what you’re
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imagining.
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the essence of design - to
That is
create an idea, not just to use
the tools. This is a significant breakthrough
for any new designer. However, it comes with
its own challenges.

21. irg y.
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An image surrounded by a border that
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fades at the edges, specifically to highlight
or isolate the central portion of an image is
called a Vignette.
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22. Design
Facts
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Vector is an image that contains many individual
and scalable objects. Vector graphics can be
displayed at any size and are resolution
independent.

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