The Design Process

The design process is a method of unearthing appropriate solutions to cultural needs.  It is an approach to problem solving that is more or less consistent throughout the many fields that employ the skills of the  designer.   

"The formulation of a problem, is often more essential than its solution, which may be merely a matter of mathematical or experimental skill.  To raise new questions, new possibilities, to regard old questions from a new angle, requires creative imagination and marks real advances in science." 

Albert Einstein

Step 1: Identify the Problem

An idea is always the starting point of the creative process.  

Recognize the problem and define it. 

• Is there a problem?
• Does the solution already exist?
• Does it need to be solved?
• What exactly is the problem?

Next establish the needs, criteria, requirements, and other limitations that set the boundaries or parameters of the problem. 

Parameters define a problem, setting out those criteria that must be dealt with in solving the problem. 

Parameters also exclude criteria that are superfluous to the problem’s solution and should be ignored.

Step 2: Generate Ideas

This is the most creative step.  There are a number of conceptual methods that creative designers use to elicit ideas:

Discovery/Saturation

One of the most important skills of a successful problem solver is the ability to state the problem so that it can be solved. To do that you must know more about the subject and the possibilities for its representation.

• Ask yourself what is to be achieved?
• What visual approach will motivate a response? (Intellectual, emotional,)
• What stylistic requirements are there? (Words, graphics, illustrations, photos, objective images or nonobjective images,)
• How does my audience see? (Buying is a means of expression)  

  Incubation

  • Mulling over the problem in a sort of chaos of ideas and knowledge,
  • Letting go of certainties (forgetting),
  • Engaging the intuitive,
  • Non-sequential global thinking is at the core of creativity.  

 Mental Inventory
Individuals are much better at generating ideas and fresh directions in one’s own mind and memory.

Once the idea has been born then a group may be better able to develop the idea and take it in more directions than can the originator. 

Alternating such periods of private idea generation with group idea development is often more productive than the two methods alone.

Research

Investigating the documentation of past approaches to a problem uncovers promising archetypes (major categories of form that have in the past been exploited by nature, vernacular culture, or technology to solve related problems).

Creativity

Creativity is a special form of problem solving that requires associative and integrative thinking. 

Associative thinking leaps to and from images, places, actions, ideas, and the like by means of connections that rely on any of a myriad of attributes or on the past experiences of the leaping mind.  The connections need not be logical.  More often than not, they are sensory.

Integrated thought synthesizes the entities reached by association into new combinations that address the problem at hand.  These are the output of creativity.  If the output survives the rigors of critical analysis, then the creative act has been successful.  

Thumbnail Sketches

Thumbnails are small, quick drawings that function as visual notes for the designer.  Thumbnails are usually the first visual realization of an idea.

Designers may create dozens of these sketches before a hint of a solution may appear.

• It is important that they be drawn quickly since you want to record your ideas while they are fresh in your mind.
• Ideas are no good to anyone in your head, they have to be acted upon.

• Having an image to see lets you evaluate the idea more effectively.
• The sketches are not meant to be finished miniatures. They need only communicate their meaning to the designer (you).

As you get into the process the sketches tend to center around one or two major ideas and become variations on those ideas.

Evaluate your sketches relative to your concept. Do as much planning as possible using thumbnails where visual decisions can be made quickly.

Sketch Models

Sketch models are the three-dimensional equivalent of thumbnails.  The designer fashions a cheap model from handy materials (most often paper) into small constructions to test the viability of an idea in three-dimensional form.

Written Notations

These most often accompany and compliment sketches, but they can also serve to quickly document an elusive train of thought before disappears.

Illumination

One or more ideas surface. This is also called "immersion."

Verification

The idea is tested as a potential solution to the problem. This final stage often involves revision -- conscious structuring and editing of created material.  

Step 3: Refine and Analyze

This is the first cycle of evaluation and criticism.

• Assess the ideas against problem criteria and parameters.
• Accept, reject, enlarge, or boil down the most promising solutions. 
• Present the refined versions in more worked drawings, models, or mock-ups.

Roughs

The first full sized sketches of the image are called roughs because they are just that.

Whenever possible, roughs should be the same size as the desired product.

The first rough is a sketch that enlarges the thumbnail. The image is then refined through a series of steps until all of the design problems are solved.

 When color is to be used in a composition, its use should be planned early in the design process.

 

Final Rough

The last planning drawing needs to have all of the design decisions made and the image taken far enough to insure its successful completion. How much detail this requires will vary, but too much is usually better than too little.

If someone else needs to be satisfied, like a client, the final rough (called a comprehensive -- or comp for short) needs to look enough like the finished product to sell the idea.

What the image will look like and how it will be made should have been determined by now. It is important that the content -- the meaning of the image reflect the concept.

When someone else looks at your art it should correspond with what you want them to see.  

Looking

Ask yourself why something is working. Why isn't it working?

Develop a critical eye. Be critical for the benefit of the project, the audience, and the development of your skills.

Remember that a concept is flexible. If during the making of the image you get a better idea you can always change your approach to the image. As long as you end up with a composition (content) that satisfies your concept you are fine
 

Step 4: Finished Product

The better the designing (planning) is done, the better the results. It is important that the composition be carefully and skillfully made to take advantage of the design. Careful in the sense that the desired image is the one produced and skillfully crafted to the best of the makers ability.

Skill requires patience, concentration and knowledge of the tools and techniques used.

During all of the preceding operations it is important that the results of each step be checked against the concept. There may be many occasions where you can change the concept to fit the form if the project allows that kind of substitution. In most cases, however, you will need to make changes in the form to meet the expectations of the concept.

The content is not just something that is checked at the end, it is done continuously.

When evaluating your artwork be critical and honest about what you see. Try to see what others see, not what you expect or want to see. Ask others what they see and think of your image.  

Ten Questions from the Discerning Viewer to the Artist

1. What is the purpose of this piece?

2. Does it pose a question?

3. If it does, are sufficient visual clues provided to beckon and direct the viewer's response?

4. Is every element present necessary?

5. Does this work define or clarify your thoughts or visualization of those thoughts?

6. Does the message merit/or warrant the particular level of execution employed? (Do the means suit the ends?)

7. Is there a "creative transformation" or does this work place a "distance" between the artist and the audience?

8. What type of experience do you want the viewer to have?

9. What three adjectives would you attach to this work?

10. Does this piece offer any significant social, political, cultural or psychological insights or truths?