I would like to share a short story that drastically improved my design capabilities.

The Story of the Joshua Tree

A while back, I came across a story in The Non-Designer’s Type Book by Robin Williams.

Robin mentioned that one day while skimming through a tree identification book, he saw a weird-looking tree, which the book captioned as the Joshua tree.

Robin instantly knew that he had never seen such a tree and was sure that if he had come across one, he would’ve immediately noticed and remembered it as the tree was quite distinctive in its shape.

After some time, Robin went out to take a stroll outside his house where he was living for 13 years.

As soon as Robin started walking, he was utterly surprised to see that 80% of the homes in his neighborhood had Joshua trees planted in their front yards.

But still, he had never noticed them until he was conscious of the tree and its name.

Key Takeaways

The essence of this story is that:

  • Once you can name something, you become conscious of it.
  • You start to “see” it in your surroundings.
  • And once your brain registers something, it becomes possible for you to think about it and even draw it.

Golden Words

This story connects beautifully with one of Nils Lindstrom’s golden words, who is an amazing lettering artist and veteran typography instructor at the Arts Center College of Design.

“You can’t draw what you can’t see, and you can’t see what you don’t know.”

Nils Lindstrom

This simply means that if you’re unaware of something, you won’t be able to “see” or notice it and if you won’t see it, there’s a high probability that you won’t be able to draw it either.

Example from the Graphic Design Industry

This concept applies in the field of Design as well. 

For example, as a designer, once you learn about typeface personalities, you start to notice their impact everywhere. 

You start thinking about typefaces as human beings having distinct personalities.

But before learning about it, you either ignored it or were incapable of “seeing” it in the first place.

The more you know, the better the chances of you getting those ideas on your artboard. 

Moreover, you’ll become better at identifying problems and coming up with solutions.

Moral of the story

  1. Learn new design concepts every day
  2. Frequently add new items to your visual vocabulary, and
  3. Stay hungry for more

Have you ever had your “Joshua tree” moment? 

Let me know in the comments.