So you want to become a better designer. How? What are some ways you can start improving your design skills?

When you want to start improving as a designer, one way to go about this is to evaluate your work. To do this we can use a set of guidelines to look objectively at your design: the elements of design. 

These are the fundamentals of creating great design. You might already be using them intuitively, but a clear understanding of what they do and how to use them in your work can make all the difference between a design that pops and a design that flops. This holds true if you design quilts or surface designs, or anything in between for that matter.

This video looks at the 6 elements of design – the fundamentals we can use to objectively evaluate our own designs so we can be confident that we are creating our best work.

check out the video:

how to improve your quilt design

How can we leverage these elements of design? We can use them to EVALUATE our designs. This is a way to objectively look at what you’re making without judgment or the negative self-talk or that little inner critic who says ‘that’s rubbish’ or ‘you can’t draw’ or I like it or I don’t like it.

By looking at our work through the elements of design we can see if we can improve or change something without getting hung up on judging our selves or our skill level.

So next time you are working on a design, a sketch, a quilt top, a painting, whatever, step back and consider each of the elements and how you have used them in your work, or how you can incorporate them to tweak or change what you have.  


Can you see these elements in your own designs?

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If you’d like to jump ahead and get the whole process I use to design quilts, you can click on the image below and get your copy of the guide ‘Design your own quilt in 5 steps.’

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