In my *other* life, I am a graphic designer, and have produced more pages of websites, movies, print pieces than I like to admit. I confess that design, for me, has become almost a bad habit: I’ve repeatedly tried to give it up but I think I’ve failed.

I remember, as a child, being obsessed with grouping and fitting things inside other things. I wondered at the time how such an ability might be useful. It wasn’t until much later that I discovered that visual organization and grouping is one of the primary ways that designers process information and achieve communication.

I teach design to web designers through MediaBistro’s online learning division, and have now produced 108 e-learning videos for them. I just posted an article on my design blog FreshAsylum about this work; in it I outline my process and some of the rewards of being an instructor of design.

I am proud of the post’s title, Less is More, Even More Than the Sum of Its Parts; it’s an inside joke for designers and artists; a very oblique reference to the tutorials on Bauhaus and Gestalt featured there. I’ve cobbled two of the most popular adages from both disciplines into one arranged marriage. It may be that only art educators will like it, or perhaps only my favorite art teacher, Roy Behrens, who I hope will give me an Apple for my cleverness (or at least check my spelling).

The funny thing about being a designer is that it has made me a better artist; just as being an artist made me able to become a better designer. I just have to learn to hold my tongue now when I see a badly designed website these days. I have to be serious if I am ever going to break my habit.