Distantly Yours: Web Design and Photos in Bloomington, IN, by Dan Hiester

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I love food. When I moved into my first apartment, and had to tackle the task of feeding myself daily for the first time, I discovered that cooking could be a very rewarding hobby. Over time, I think I’ve fallen in love with cooking for the same reason I fell in love with web design: it’s a productive outlet for creativity and passion.

The more I think about it, the more I’m surprised the connection between cooking and design isn’t discussed more often. When you break down any creative medium to its core, you find it’s a way for people to use their personal skill set to blend elements of different things together in a way that other people will enjoy. This core tenet applies just as much to web design, film, music and books as it does to food.

Creativity with flavor

The concept of design applies to food in two main ways: taste and presentation. Ingredients are to a cook as paints is to a traditional artist, or words are to a writer.

Sometimes a sauce needs a little lime juice for a slight citrus kick, to balance out the spices in the sauce. Sometimes a shade of blue needs a little more green to make it balance the other colors in a design.

Creativity with flash

But food is not always just about taste. Food can also be about color and composition. Granted, food does serve an essential biological function: because function tends to win out over form, the presentation of food is often strictly utilitarian. But the fact that its presentation is utilitarian does not mean it was not designed, it just means its design is utilitarian in nature.

That said, food can be pretty. Few things are prettier than a piece of white meat with a smear of brightly-colored sauce, complimented with tastefully arranged greens, presented on a chic, stylish plate.

I’m not the only designer who loves food

Some of the web designers that inspire me most are also noted fans of food. Jon Hicks has a cheese tag on his blog. Shaun Inman used food-centric naming for his first web-based product, Mint. Another designer with a site that recently blew me away, David Yeiser, has only two photos posted on his site. One is a cup of Espresso in Paris. I’m sure there are plenty others out there who love food but choose not to talk about it.