I would have to totally agree with Douglas Bowman’s “A Design Process Revealed” article from the very start at the first paragraph. I love the magic references in that it is so true about the non-designer/artist vs. designers and artists- that designers and artist seem to use a lot of smoke and mirrors when creating things. Hell, to be honest even I have been guilty of using my “creative talents” at times, or whatever you want to call them, to create some spectacular thing out of nowhere. I have no idea where it came from, it just happened and it really does look great. I mean, if you are like me and tend to be your own worse critic, then you know something has to be wrong it when you yourself are impressed and actually like it. Sometimes there is a big drawback to going about that process in the fact that there really isn’t a ‘logical’ process and thus you may be wasting valuable time that could otherwise be put to use elsewhere. This has been learned the hard way and I’m sure that I am not alone. Show of hands?
I still rather much agree with Bowman in design process itself. Even though I have been down this path before (when I was at the Art Institute of Dallas from 1997-1999, studying Computer Animation) I had no solid use for it once I got out into the real world. Mostly because the things I were working on were generally already thought out in a design process before they made it to me or my team for creation and rendering. However, once I started designing web sites I noticed that I needed those particular design skills back, but they were a bit rusty and I had developed some bad habits. Coming back to the Art Institute (now to study Interactive Media Design) I have started to learn these process all over again. By observation I have noticed that those processes have also changed a bit in their approach to the final outcome, or at least so it seems. Either way I think it has so far been awesome!
The design process is not really anything new to me, but at the same time it kind of is, if you know what I mean. I have always known it, but I have never actually implemented or effectively used it in it’s entirety. Take for instance a time when I created a logo for a company. When looking ideas I did initiate a word research (something recently I have come to revisit in my Ideation & Rapid Visualization class). I needed to know the sum of the parts of the logo in which I was creating and the word research helped with that a great deal. After I found imagery that corresponded to the effective words, I made thumbnails. Then, after the thumbnails were finished I took it all to my computer and started the design in Photoshop. Voila!
Funny enough, it wasn’t even that particular finished piece that I had used. I wasn’t even satisfied with it for that matter and knew that my client may not like it much as well. It probably wasn’t all that great because I kind of sped through the design process, wanting to get it done as soon as possible and not mapping out all of my options and thoughts. What ended up being the final was an idea (of many) that I had sketched out onto a napkin one very late evening at a coffee bistro. So apparently I still had more in me to get this project done.
On the whole, I guess what I’m getting at is that, as much of a pain-in-the-ass it can certainly be, there is this design process that we (especially as Interactive Media Designers, Web Developers, Graphic Designers and such) must go through at some point to really get the full of what we want to accomplish. Yes, there will be the occasional last minute changes that could totally turn the initial process or idea upside-down, but none so many that we should stop with the process all together. Hey, I’m not just preaching to the quire here. Even as I write this, by introspect, I realize that in some cases I was totally not factoring in all of my options which could have saved me a lot of headache and anxiety. Hey, go figure…we’re actually learning something with sustenance that is useful and productive at this school. Now there’s a concept for ya!
Well, I was checking your blog to see if there was anything new, as I only did 3 peoples blogs last week. As a former student in the animation tract myself. It is always good to have a method of working, because you will always have a place to start. Nicely articulated.