Recipe For Good Design

Today I was going through some old cookbooks and started to think about how good design is like following a recipe. Sounds kind of crazy right? How can designing a space be like making chocolate chip cookies (by the way, I don't recommend making bacon chocolate chip cookies...they're kind of gross!)? Well, both use a step by step process of adding ingredients; if you forget an ingredient, your creation may be okay, but it won't be spectacular. All the aspects of the space have to combine to create perfect harmony. Take for example a retail space. You have your flooring and wall color, which is the the flour and sugar of a cookie recipe. They are kind of the base or beginning point of creating a space. Next comes the butter, egg, vanilla, and brown sugar. These are the "glue" of the space, such as shelving, reception area, seating, textiles, etc. which help make the space more coherent and put together...basically the structure of the space. Finally you have the chocolate chips, or the "main attraction" which could be a fun lighting fixture of art piece which not only creates a focal point, but ties the whole space together in to one cohesive design (you can't make chocolate chip cookies without chocolate chips, right?) If you can make cookies, you can make enticing spaces that people will want to continually come to. So the next time you are in a design funk and can't think of what to do, just grab a cookie and some milk, and you'll be just fine!