Design Elements, 2nd Edition

(F39)_Job:12-40337 Title:RP-Design Elements 2nd Edition

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TEXT

putting it all together

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THE WORKING PROCESS

Concept Development Every designer

works differently, and every project is

unique. Regardless, the process of design-

ing ultimately starts with ideation, or

developing concepts. Designers approach

concept development from myriad direc-

tions. The very notion of

what a concept

is

differs among designers: some see the

content itself as the concept, while others

see it as a raw thing, to benefit from

embellishment, visual metaphor, allusion,

or a kind of storytelling. And some design-

ers weigh these philosophies and choose

one or the other approach as appropriate

at a given time. The process of ideation

involves research. To craft a visual form

for an idea that supports all its richness, a

designer must first fully understand that

idea. There are many means of researching

material: Comparing existing projects of a

similar nature; making brainstorming lists

and mind-maps; collecting images or

objects by association; and simply sketch-

ing intuitively. Many designers follow a

staged process learned from early formal

training, even if they are very experienced:

researching, and then brainstorming as

many different ideas as possible; compar-

ing these to find aspects that are poten-

tially useful, or which, if any, may be

combined to mutually enhance each other;

focusing on the result of this comparison

to construct the necessary parts of the

Comparative Research

One important method of

research is collecting samples of

design work that is related to the

project one is conceptualizing—

potentially for inspiration but,

more importantly, to establish

a sense of the context in which

one’s project will ultimately find

itself. Seeing how other design-

ers have communicated a given

idea helps understand not only

the expectations of the project’s

intended audience but also of

what conceptual directions to

beware in favor of those that

will help differentiate the work

being undertaken for the project

at hand.

List-Base Brainstorming

and Mind-Mapping

Most people are familiar with

brainstorming in the form of a

written list. A mind-map is

a form of diagrammatic brain-

storming that allows a designer

to track the paths from associa-

tion to association and—even

better—to see when particular

associations appear along differ-

ent paths, suggesting rich nar-

rative interconnections between

seemingly unrelated ideas.

Making Mood Boards

Another method of research is to

collect visual material that seems

somehow relevant—either liter-

ally or metaphorically, by way of

association. Such material might

include images of people, found

objects, fabric swatches, chips of

paint, and even text like poems

or excerpts from literature. The

materials are then assembled

onto boards to create a kind

of library of feelings and ideas

(hence, “mood boards”).

Visual Exploration

The designer examines a range

of different approaches to under-

stand their respective potentials

in the given context: visual brain-

storming to discover possibilities.

The goal of this phase is not

to arrive at any conclusions—

and never to preconceive the

outcome—but, rather, to roughly

and rapidly generate as many

ideas as can be.

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