First, a definition:

Flourish n.

Embellishment or ornamentation: a signature with a distinctive flourish.

If you look closely at any lovingly designed collateral or media, you’ll begin to notice little touches like this everywhere. It’s something that we, as designers, love to do. The little details of a site, or a brochure, or a poster are what really make it look complete and well-designed. They’re symbols that getting the product to its final state took a lot of time and thought. Examples of this are the little AL logo I put on my comments, or the little gusts of wind on either side of the headers on classic ES CA PE. It’s just a little something extra, the final touch.

It’s all well and good, until you consider the tight deadlines that designers as a group seem to be constantly battling. Time crunches mean cranking out design after design, all of which have to stand apart from eachother and please all the people all the time. Not an uncommon situation, and not necessarily a bad one – you’re continually pushed to try new things that you hope will work so you don’t have to start over. But the problem is, what about the flourishes? Somewhere in this hustle and bustle they get left behind (usually), so while I’m turning in work that I’m generally happy with, very rarely do I end up with a project I’m genuinely finished with and think “this is portfolio material!”

What’s funny is that my favorite projects are usually the most unlikely. The project I’m currently battling is fairly high-profile, which of course means less room to play. Some of the other things I’ve either just finished or just started are much more flexible and as a result the design will be able to grow instead of being forced. That means flourishes and as a result, portfolio fodder.

In the end, and I’ve said this kind of thing before, the best designers learn to flourish under fire.