Have you ever learned about something about Design, then suddenly start seeing it everywhere you go? What is that feeling and how can you use it to help you become a better designer? What you’re experiencing is called Frequency Illusion.

We mentioned briefly in our 12 Principles of Interdisciplinary Design post that Design brings you new ways to look at the world. Honestly, it’s one of my favourite things about Design and the more you learn the more you can see this play out in your life.

You’ll be walking down the street and suddenly be able to recognise the fonts used in the signage, or the materials used, or the lighting design in shops. Once you learn about something new, you suddenly begin to see it everywhere.

If you’ve ever bought a new car and suddenly begin seeing it at every turn, you’ll know the feeling.

When you learn a new element of Design, it suddenly makes itself obvious. This phenomenon is called Frequency Illusion, and you can use it to help you learn design.

I love this feeling so much, I wrote a post about it.

What is Frequency Illusion in Design?

Frequency Illusion, is also called the Baader-Meinhof phenomenon. It’s a term that comes from cognitive psychology. When we notice something new, we begin seeing it often in our daily lives.

It’s a type of cognitive bias. You’re brain loves recognising patterns and learning new information. When it discovers something new it suddenly begins seeing it everywhere.

This doesn’t last for very long, a few weeks maybe. Eventually the thing that you’ve been seeing becomes part of the world again, but you just know it’s there.

Turns out, Marketers have been long aware of this phenomenon, and use it as a way to familiarise you with brands and promotional materials.

As you learn more about Design, you may have several moments where you experience Frequency Illusion. Every time you acquire a new skill or learn new knowledge, those elements might become more obvious in your daily life.

This heightened awareness can have a huge impact on your design choices, and can help influence your opinion towards that new elements you’ve just recently discovered.

A Personal Example of Design and Frequency Illusion

For me, the first time I ever experienced Frequency illusion, it came from learning about fonts when I was studying Graphic Design. One font in particular was suddenly everywhere I looked, Bank Gothic.

What struck me at the time, was how much I was seeing it everywhere. I couldn’t turn it off. Everywhere I looked, there it was, Bank Gothic. I would notice signs in my area that used it. I would notice businesses using it in their promotional materials. It was everywhere.

What struck me was how much it impacted me. I loved it. It suddenly became a bit of a running joke amongst my mates that I was suddenly obsessed with fonts. But I couldn’t unsee them.

Graphic Design had suddenly given me a new way to see the world. A world filled with fonts, that beforehand I was wouldn’t have even noticed. I thought this was amazing! Now I when I have that feeling, I relish it. I chase it. It shows that you’ve learned something new and understand it.

When I mention in the 12 Principles post, that learning different forms of Design brings new perspectives of looking at the world. Frequency Illusion definitely plays it’s part. 

How to Use Frequency Illusion to Learn Design

The main goal of Nollie, is to encourage Designers to learn the bigger picture of Design by learning aspects of different design fields to become better in their own practice. 

We look at Designers from history, like these 10 famous Interdisciplinary designers and focus on the work that relates to our specialty, rather than the fact they had the creative ability to work across different specialties.

Instead, to become a great designer you should be looking at the larger selection of their work and wonder how do you get to that stage? You do this by constantly learning about Design.

As you learn different elements of Design, from Graphic Design all the way to Interior Design. You’ll see notice Frequency Illusion coming into play.

Frequency illusion is a sign that you’ve recognised the element of design that you’ve learned. If you start seeing it everywhere, that’s a good thing. It means you understand that design element.

The Risks of Frequency Illusion to Learning Design

There are some risks to Frequency Illusion. Let’s use my Bank Gothic example, if you read this you might assume it’s the most commonly used font in the world. But the truth is that isn’t the case… That’s Helvetica!

Bank Gothic was just the first font that I learned of. While it’s pretty common, it’s definitely not the most popular font in the world. 

Frequency Illusion has the risk of making you believe that the element of Design you learned about is everywhere. But as with all design, your creative decisions need to be considered. For the places I was seeing it, Bank Gothic was the best font to use for that display.

If I suddenly put Bank Gothic into everything I did then it would look ridiculous. It wouldn’t have been considered. That’s the risk many new designers face when first introduced to a design topic that begin experiencing Frequency Illusion.

Conclusion

Frequency Illusion is a sign that you’re learning new topics in Design. Seeing it everywhere is a sign that you’ve understood the topic.

If you’re a design student, I hope you get to experience the weird feeling of seeing a font / material / technique that you see everywhere you go. If you’re an experienced designer who hasn’t experienced the phenomenon in a while, maybe it’s time you learned something new? 

At Nollie, we want to show you the steps to becoming an Interdisciplinary Designer. We do this by sharing our 12 Principles of Interdisciplinary Design.

If you’re experiencing Frequency Illusion at the moment, what is it that you can’t stop noticing?