gather ideas: get creative
Coming up with new and exciting ideas for a project is one of my favorite parts of being a designer. I love being able to dream big and think through all of the potential ideas and variations that a project could have. After coming up with ideas and thinking through potential problems, the parameters of the project are decided upon and an agreement is made for what is expected to be completed. Now the idea is ready to be researched.
I often use exercises like word mapping (shown on the right) to assist in this part of the process. This word map helped me come up with ideas for the name, logo, and of a climbing gym that one of my friends is trying to start here in Abilene.
Research: gut checks and moodboards
Researching and gathering inspiration helps me to understand both what people might be used to seeing as well as inspiring new ideas. As I research, I create moodboards of pictures and designs that I like which help inspire direction and new ideas. A "gut check" is a way of showing your moodboard to clients to see what kind of designs they like or don't like to help get a better understand a client's taste before the design process has even begun to better improve the outcome of a project.
By researching root beer brands and creating moodboards for my Gemstone project, I was about to see what people expected from a root beer company in order break the mold completely to create a brand that feels unexpected and new.
Sketch: gather resources
Any given project can take anywhere between 10-50+ sketches to figure out a solution. Sketching out ideas gives me the ability to quickly decide whether an idea will work or not. After sketching out several Ideas, I will take my best ideas into illustrator or my Ipad to make quick variations of the same design. Finding mockups, fonts, and other design elements to use in the design is a fluid part of this stage in the process.
These sketches on the right helped me come up with my city harvest logo. Some of these sketches are variations of a similar concept, and some of them change in style all together.
get critiques: refine
After spending some time on a project, it is always nice to get a fresh perspective. critiques from peers and team members help to improve my work, so I am constantly bouncing ideas off others and asking for thoughts on different parts of my designs. It can be easy to get discouraged during the design process, so having others to give feedback and encouragement is something that i find is extremely helpful for me as a designer. After the refining is done, it is time to present the work!
This is one of my many illustrator files that shows my process of refining and making small tweaks until the final product is perfect.
Presentation
Depending on the project, presentation can take many forms. Sometimes digital mockups and presentation decks are created, while other times creating physical mockups of products and taking photos is more appropriate. I have also enjoyed getting to create unique digital presentations for my work using motion graphics, and hope to be able to use that skill more in the future.
To the right are some photos that I took of a shirt I designed for my old high school's women's basketball team.
