The Design PROCESS

I recently came across this article: The Design PROCESS. I got a little anxious before reading it, thinking “Uh oh, do I know about this process? I hope there isn’t anything that I am failing to do for my clients.” Luckily, I innately do most of these steps throughout the course of each of my projects. I learned this process in design school, but obviously tucked it away somewhere in the back of my head and have been using it for years without really thinking about it. Reading this article was a good refresher and makes me confident that I am offering my clients the best solution for their design “problem”.

These are the steps listed in the article and my self assessment for each step:

1. DEFINE PROBLEM: In most cases, the design problem is presented by the client when they contact me about their project. Further discussion may be needed to clarify.

2. GET PARAMETERS/SPECIFICATIONS: Once the problem is defined, I gather information about use, size, audience, color, paper stock, items to be included (text, images, logos), etc. for the project.

3. RESEARCH (client history, demographics, competition, market, technologies): VIEW THE CLIENT WEBSITE. For some clients, all of my research can be accomplished by viewing their website. If they do not have a website or it is lacking, I contact the client to gather any necessary information.

4. BRAINSTORM, WORD LIST:  Word lists? Not so much. Maybe I will give that a try in the future, but haven’t really utilized this tool up until now. Brainstorm? Definitely. Sometimes I look to the web for inspiration, including the client's own website. Client’s previous marketing materials are also a huge help. Looking for stock images that could be used sometimes lead me in a certain direction.

5. THUMBNAIL SKETCHES:  This is one step that I remember from design school because I despised it. I am not that great of a drawer/sketcher so it always upset me when my sketches looked like a 2nd grader did them and my peers’ looked like million dollar art. Although it may be frowned upon, I do this part on the computer. Nobody’s perfect!

6. COLLABORATE: Sometimes. This one is completely situational. Some projects are so straightforward that I know exactly what needs to be done and how I am going to achieve it. Other projects are a little more unclear and I may need to go back to the client, present my research and ideas, and discuss how to proceed.

7. DIGITAL FULL SCALE MOCKUPS (visual exploration):  Of course! This is my favorite part. Sending the client the proof(s) that I have developed.

8. CRITIQUE:  I also enjoy this part (sometimes). Hearing back from my clients is always exciting to me. Whether they love it and have no revisions or they have a million changes and ideas on how to improve it. I like my work to be the best that it can be and sometimes I alone cannot make that happen. Like I said, nobody’s perfect, but hopefully when I come together with my client we can create a design that is as close to perfection as possible.

9. FINALIZE ART:  Another one of my favorite parts. Once we have the design approved, I finalize the art for production and send it off!

10. PROBLEM SOLVED:  Everyone is happy! Hope that we can do it again sometime :)