As a branding agency, we encounter this very often. Clients say, ‘I don’t know, but there is something missing in your design. It’s very minimal, it’s very simple. Add some more design into that. It feels flat. I think I can also do it myself.’
Hi !! My name is Iti Shankhdhar and I am co-founder and brand designer here at Creative Orion Studio. We are one of the best branding agency in India. Here I am going to share point of view on designing. First of all I would like to clarify that design is not decoration.
It’s a common belief that designing is all about making things look beautiful, or decorative. Adding more colours, using cool fonts, and putting a lot of elements here and there would make a design better. That’s a common belief people have, but honestly, that’s not the case.
And we don’t blame people for thinking that way, because that’s what most of the information available on the internet shows. If you search for designing, you would see a lot of fancy elements, decorations, big fonts, and colours and it makes the perception that this is the good design.
But actually, design is not decoration. Decoration makes things pretty, but design makes things work. In branding, it’s important that things should work instead of just looking beautiful.
Let’s make it simple.
Imagine you walk into a restaurant. The interiors are beautiful, the lighting is perfect, the vibe feels great, and good music is playing. But when you pick up the menu, it seems confusing. You can’t understand what to order. The waiter can’t explain clearly, and you wait too long for basic things. Would you go back? The answer is no.
Now compare that with a place that may not be very beautiful in terms of interiors, but it is simple and clean. The menu is clear, everything is easy to understand, service is quick, the experience is smooth, and you don’t have to wait much for your order. You enjoy the food.
What is the difference?
The difference is that decoration is not what drives your business—design is. And design is not just about making things beautiful; it’s about making things clear and easy.
Another example – take Apple. They are considered one of the best brands in the world, and that is a fact. Do they use a lot of design elements? No. Their designs are clean, premium, and functional. That’s the magic—it’s about making design more functional than decorative.
We have talked about this in our previous points of view and blogs—that design should be functional first before anything else. You would also notice that the packaging of Apple products is top-notch—highly clean, very easy to understand, and everything is designed with a purpose, not just to add visual elements. It reflects the thinking they have put into the packaging.
That is the difference between decorative design and functional design.
And design is not just limited to brand identities or packaging. You can think of it in websites as well. Imagine a website with big visuals, crazy animations, fancy elements, and highly creative transitions on the landing page.
Now imagine a person visits that website. Within five seconds, he got lost in those animations and visuals. He was unable to understand the purpose of the website or the communication behind it. He left and would never come back.
That person came to understand what the company does, what products or services they offer, and how to connect- but instead, he got confused and closed the tab.
So whatever decoration you added to impress the users ended up losing them. It did not help.
This is why decoration doesn’t work, functionality does. Keep it clean and simple. That’s what drives more business, rather than having a decorative website.
Another example—think of space design. Take IKEA. If you look at their products, you will realise they are simple, functional, and not loud. They are not trying to impress you with aesthetics. Their products are designed for real life.
The way they display their products is clean and thoughtful. They understand functionality deeply. They could have created fancy furniture, but they chose simplicity.Because in today’s time, life is already complex. People need simple things.
And that is why they kept things simple—and that is why they are such a popular brand.
Now the question is, how do you achieve good branding, not decorative branding?
Let’s simplify this.
Good design answers three basic questions:
Who is this for?
Why should someone care?
And what should he/she do next?
If your design is unable to answer these questions, it’s not a good design. Build your design to answer these questions first.
Experts say that a design which is not seen as design is the best design.
To explain this, if something is designed and works perfectly, but is not noticed as design, that is great design. It means the designer has solved the problem without making it look like fancy- is a perfect example of good design.
For example, when you use a clean app, as soon as you open it, you see clear instructions on what to do next. Every tap leads to the next step, so you don’t get lost. That is where design, user experience, and user interface come into play—and that is good design.
Conclusion:
We are a branding agency in India, and our focus to create functional branding that gives a lasting impression.
We don’t just follow trends and don’t focus on the latest animations. Instead, we design solutions that work across platforms, reduce confusion, help your audience make decisions faster, and bring clarity—not decoration. And that is why we always encourage people to understand the concept of clarity over decoration. It is a very important aspect of branding that people should understand.”
As a branding agency in India, our focus is on creating functional branding that leaves a lasting impression.
Instead of following trends or chasing the latest animations, the goal is to design solutions that work across platforms, reduce confusion, and help users make faster decisions.
