Day 7: Weekly Synthesis - Experimental UI Design Course

📚 Study (10 min)

Review your week's work and identify patterns in your aesthetic preferences

✏️ Practice (20 min)

Create a mood board combining all elements you've explored

🛠 Tool

Use Are.na or Pinterest to collect inspiration

Synthesizing Your Learning

Reflection transforms scattered learning into coherent understanding. After six days of experimentation, patterns in your aesthetic preferences are emerging. Some color combinations consistently appeal to you; certain typographic treatments feel more natural. Recognizing these patterns helps develop your personal design voice.

Review your color palettes, typography experiments, layout sketches, and written critiques. What themes connect them? Do you gravitate toward high contrast or subtle gradations? Are your layout ideas always dynamic, or do some embrace stillness? Do your critiques consistently praise innovation or craftsmanship? These preferences aren't limitations - they're the foundation of your aesthetic identity.

Create a mood board that synthesizes your week's discoveries. Include your best color experiments, typography samples, layout sketches, and screenshots from sites you analyzed. Add external inspiration that resonates with your emerging style - maybe brutalist architecture photos, vintage poster designs, or contemporary art pieces. Arrange these elements intuitively rather than systematically. The mood board should feel like a visual diary of your aesthetic journey. This becomes your reference point for maintaining consistency while continuing to experiment. Upload it to Are.na and begin building a personal inspiration library you'll develop throughout the course.

Reflection Prompts

Consider these questions as you review your week's work:

Color: Which palettes made you feel energized vs. calm? What color relationships surprised you?
Typography: Did you prefer bold statements or subtle refinement? How did breaking readability rules feel?
Layout: Were your sketches chaotic or controlled? What grid-breaking ideas excited you most?
Hierarchy: How did removing traditional structures change your approach to information design?
Movement: Did you create smooth flows or jarring transitions? What timing felt most natural?
Analysis: Which design philosophies resonated with your values? What critiques revealed your biases?

Creating Your Mood Board

Include:

3-5 color palettes from Day 1
Typography experiments from Day 2
Most radical layout sketches from Day 3
Hierarchy experiments from Day 4
Screenshots of movement studies from Day 5
Quotes from your critiques on Day 6
External inspiration that connects to your work

Arrangement Tips:

Group by emotional resonance, not chronology
Let visual relationships emerge naturally
Include both successes and interesting failures
Add brief annotations for context

Common Aesthetic Patterns

You might discover you're drawn to:

Maximalist Energy: Bold colors, dynamic layouts, aggressive typography
Subtle Sophistication: Muted palettes, careful spacing, refined details
Organic Flow: Natural movements, curved layouts, breathing room
Geometric Precision: Sharp angles, systematic color, mathematical relationships
Controlled Chaos: Organized disorder, purposeful tension, beautiful accidents

Key Takeaways

Aesthetic preferences reveal themselves through consistent patterns
Your design voice emerges from accumulated experiments
Mood boards serve as visual anchors for future work
Reflection transforms experience into applicable knowledge