I helped design 9 skyscrapers. Now I make blog graphics.

_{Day 59/100}

Hey - It's Tim.

I spent five years as a structural drafter.

Not designer.
Not architect.
Drafter.

That means:
→ You take a napkin sketch from a stressed engineer
→ You make it look like a £20,000 render
→ You present it to people paying millions
→ And they say, “Ah yes, beautiful. Approved.”

I helped put nine skyscrapers on the London skyline.
If you’ve been to London you will have seen them.
And they wouldn’t exist if someone didn’t clean up the sketch.

Here’s what I learned about design while helping billionaires not freak out about cantilevers:

1. Make it look intentional (even if you just guessed)

I once sent out a drawing that looked… fine.
Technically correct. No errors.
But I hadn’t aligned the section markers properly.

Big deal? Apparently, yes.
The architect calls me. Doesn’t say hello.
Just:

The fix?
Move 4 things a total of 20mm.

Aligned the spacing.
Hit export again.

Same drawing.
Now it looked intentional.
Next meeting?
The client says, “This feels a lot tighter.”

Same structure. More trust.
Design is a lie you tell with margins.

If something looks “off,” people start to doubt the whole thing.
So:

• Left-align your text

• Create balance with whitespace

• Keep spacing consistent like your life depends on it

Even if you’re just guessing — make it look like a choice.

2. Use real-world palettes, not rainbow roulette

We were working on a tower in Southwark.
Client said, “Make it feel like it belongs.”
Architect says, “I want it to echo the Thames.”

What does that mean?
No one knew.
But I opened a photo of the river on a foggy day and sampled five colours:
Slate. Sand. Mist. Rust. Blue-grey.

Used them for the presentation.
Soft transitions. Calm tones.
The mood? Instant "this fits."

The client smiled and said:

That’s the moment it clicked.
Design isn’t color theory. It’s familiarity.
So now, I do the same in Canva.
Upload a photo. Let it pull the palette.
Those tones already work together — because they already exist.

No more guessing. No more neon regret.

3. Typography is architecture for words

This one hurt.

We were working late — 10pm, maybe later.
Pitch deck due the next morning.
I thought I was being helpful.
Tried to spice up the deck with three fonts:
Futura for headings. Helvetica for body. Courier New for... vibe?

My engineering director took one look and said:

Deleted it.
Rebuilt it.
One font. Two sizes. A little more breathing room.

He looked again.

That line stuck with me.
“Feels like we’ve done this before.”
That’s what good typography does.
It gives the work a backbone. Quiet confidence.

So now:

• One font (Inter or DM Sans — they don’t shout)

• One size for body, one for headings

• Line height that breathes

• No weird italics or accidental bolds

Your words deserve a solid foundation.

I used to think design was decoration.
Now I know it’s persuasion.

It’s how you make people feel safe with your ideas.
Even if those ideas involve bolting nine stories of steel to a 1990s office block.

You don’t need to be a designer.
You just need to be slightly better than centering everything and using bright purple.

✌️ Tim "Structurally Sound, Design Questionable" Hanson
CMO @Penfriend.ai

Same brain, different platforms: X, Threads, LinkedIn.

P.S.
Most people write blog posts like I used to draw skyscrapers:
Confidently… and kind of hoping no one zooms in.

Penfriend fixes that.
It doesn’t just write your content — it structures it, styles it, and makes it feel like you actually planned this whole SEO thing.

Try it free.
No credit card. No lime green.

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