Last week we talked a little about my personal design process. Today I wanted to share a bit more of that with you in a project based manor. Let’s take a look at some of my steps.
1) Research
Working with a client can be both fun and overwhelming. Sometimes the design function takes you to places in which you may not be familiar with. For me I spend about 40% of my time with the research stage.
Copacabana
Brazil
Steakhouse
Competition
Useage
Cowboys
Cows
Etc
Research also includes images, text and symbols associated with the above terms.
I like to use word association to help we drive at the heart of the matter. One such tool that I use is http://www.visuwords.com/
2) Concept
Driving at the heart of what I want to do I start putting all of my research together to help formulate a solid concept. The concept stage is about 35% of my overall design time.
Based on research my ideas surrounding the project come together. Word associations start to take shape in icon based imagery. Font choice is starting to be limited to instances that back up the research. Color patterns start to form based on the research as well. Quickly getting them down on paper helps new ideas form. In doing so I start to weed out ideas that I do not feel will work.
A small collection of research items that forms into concept driven ideas
3) Rough Draft
In order to see if my concepts will work or not I start working on rough drafts. First in the form of sketches and then carry on the few that I would like to execute over to the computer. I spend about 10% of my time on this stage. I have been doing this long enough to know what ideas that I know I can execute to the concept specs.
I also use this stage as a chance to get feedback from outside voices. Remembering who my audience is I poll them to get feed back on my initial ideas.
Rough Draft Stage For Feedback
4) Polish
Based on the feedback that I got back from target audience I start to rework one or two design into more polished designs. I really start to get a feel for how elements work together and play with each interaction. I spend about 10% of my time on this stage.
Polish up a thought
5) Finalization
Once the polish has been put out it’s time for peer review. The information gathered is once again looked over to make sure that I have met the clients objectives and everything gels with the overall brand of the company. Finalization is about 5% of my design process.
In this case I still have to work in the color palette but the overall logo is close. The log may or may not get a color treatment but in this case I need to help determine the brands color to help move forward with the design process.
Putting on the final touch
