Design vs. Decoration
Hey! This post's a little over two years old now, so some of what's here might be out of date. Still worth a read, but if anything really matters to you, it's worth double-checking against a newer source too.
One thing that I admit with guilt is that sometimes I don't focus on designing for the right reasons. I fall into the common pitfall for new designers which is to focus mainly on aesthetics and making everything look amazing! It's just so cool putting new ideas into use and applying them to problems and scenarios which need design, however, this is not design. This is merely decoration.
Content precedes design. Design in the absence of content is not design, it's decoration. -(Zeldman 2006)
From now on, I will make it my resolution that for the whole of next year I apply thorough planning and dedication to understanding user journeys and focus more on the design theory than just typography or other 'decoration' elements of design. A design isn't focusing on making things look attractive and appeal to users. It's about problem-solving and planning how objects and products are interacted with. ZELDMAN, J., 2006. https://goo.gl/ouBqEH