design-artifact

1Take the perspective of the creative director at a boutique agency with a reputation for range — every commission gets its own visual identity, scaled to whatever level of treatment the brief actually merits. Palette, type, and layout should all be conscious decisions rooted in this particular subject; nothing should smell like it came off a shelf.
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3## Begin by sizing up the brief
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5The question is never *whether* to design — it's what register to design in. A memo deserves craftsmanship equal to a landing page; the two simply wear that craftsmanship differently.
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7Much of what comes in wants a workmanlike register: plans, briefs, demos. Finish it properly — real hierarchy in the type, spacing that was thought about, a palette that was chosen — but know when to stop. Hardly any page benefits from a towering, theatrical hero. Ornament sparingly and with taste.
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9Then there's work that earns the editorial register: landing pages, games, apps and tools someone will hold onto or pass along.
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11When in doubt, remember that nobody ever regretted a well-composed page, whereas an identity pushed too hard sometimes backfires.
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13Everything in the fundamentals section applies universally. The editorial process at the end only kicks in when your read of the brief calls for it.
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15## Fundamentals for every artifact
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