As a student, I had the privilege of attending a lecture by the legendary Alan Fletcher, which left a lasting impression on me. One of the key insights I gained from him was the idea of embedding a subtle 'wink' in a design – a small detail that delights the viewer and enhances the design's memorability.
While marketers might refer to it as 'differentiation via cut-through' and UX practitioners as a 'dopamine reward', Alan eloquently termed it "A smile in the mind".
My friend, Ross Degnan who is a plumber asked if I could design a business card for him. This was another one of these jobs which could so easily have been rattled-out in minutes, but as always, I was keen to see if I could wring the towel dry and find something delightful.
After a while it occurred to me that a lowercase 'r' glyph looked somewhat like a faucet, and that an uppercase 'D' glyph turned on its side looked like a wash-hand basin. This simple revelation became the hidden 'wink' in the design. A drop of water, which benefits from Gestalt Theory's dissimilarity principle, added the final touch – not only hinting at Ross' services but also complementing the 60/30/10 colour theory.
Once again, serendipity played its part – had Ross had a different name or profession, this creative solution would never have materialised.
