When Design Stops Working (and Why It’s Rarely the Design)

When a design isn’t working, people usually blame the visuals. The layout feels wrong, the colours look off, the page feels heavy. But most of the time, the problem isn’t the design at all. It’s the structure underneath it — the thinking that didn’t settle before the visuals began.

I see this most clearly when something looks fine at first glance but feels strangely resistant. You move elements around, adjust spacing, tweak hierarchy; nothing changes. The layout keeps falling back into the same awkward shape. That’s usually the moment I stop touching the visuals and go back to the foundation.

Not long ago I was refining a page structure for a project, and everything looked technically clean, yet the whole thing had a slight lean to it — like the weight was in the wrong place. I kept trying to fix it through layout, but the issue wasn’t visual. Two ideas were competing for the same position in the story. Once one of them shifted lower in the hierarchy, the entire page relaxed. The design didn’t change at all; the message just found its proper place.

Design only misbehaves when it’s carrying weight it was never meant to hold. If the strategy is confused, the design becomes the surface where that confusion shows up. You can polish it endlessly and it still won’t feel right, because the tension is structural, not aesthetic.

The same thing happens when a brand hasn’t committed to a point of view. A page can be beautifully designed, but if the message underneath it drifts every few paragraphs, the design feels unstable. It’s like trying to build on shifting ground — the walls may look straight, but the whole thing is quietly off balance.

When design works, it’s because the thinking beneath it is aligned. The message hierarchy is clear. The intention is singular. The reader knows what the brand stands for without being pushed. In those moments, design becomes an expression of something already coherent.

Whenever I feel the visuals slipping away from me, I remind myself that design isn’t decoration. It’s clarity made visible. And clarity comes from decisions made long before the first frame or colour choice.

Design stops working when we ask it to solve problems it cannot solve.It starts working again when the structure remembers what it’s trying to say.