Learning to Un-Design
Learning to un-design is not an easy task for artist/designer. It's easy to get paranoid over the role details play in a big picture, so going back to basics becomes a matter of discipline.
It is more like un-learning, since you stop asking: What would enhance this page/painting/room/corner? and start thinking: What is the bare minimum that is sufficient? Where is the magic line that separates clear and clean from fluff? Learning how to get rid of extras, of bells and whistles and pair down a clutter of pretty must be an art-form in itself.
Among iconographer's rules there is one that cannot be over-emphasized: Fast of the eyes. An iconographer needs to practice eye fasting -- turning off the TV, getting her head out of fashion magazines, removing herself from the incessant noise colors and shapes create -- and focus on the essentials. Clean forms, clear colors, pure geometry. That is enough.