The design process

I agree with Doug Bowman’s design process principles. The first aspect he mentions is research, which is crucial to understanding any design project. That was perhaps the first thing I learned here at the Art Institute in my design classes, and it’s what makes or breaks a composition. Competitive analysis falls into the research category too, and uncovering the competition can shed light on previously unexplored design concepts.

Research may be crucial to the concept, but thumbnails are inevitable for the actual layout and design. Bowman says that he does thumbnails once all the ideas are in his head, and he sketches them out quickly. I work the same way, and my thumbnails usually look like chicken-scratch. But that’s just the point! A thumbnail sketch shouldn’t take more than 30 seconds or so…just enough to get a visual idea of the layout. Whether it’s “the one” or not, the designer should still draw several more just to exercise all possible solutions. To me, this is an important stage of the design process that must be completed in order to move on.

Typography and imagery work hand in hand, and are more of the refining process of the design. In my work, I find the research and thumbnails to be the most exhausting parts of a project. I love typography and working with images, but they’re completely useless without a solid foundation. Building that foundation can be very taxing, but also very rewarding. I feel like once I’ve built that, even though the bulk of the time and effort has yet to be spent on the project, the hard part is over. At that point, I get to focus on the art. I thoroughly enjoy typography, and Bowman goes into detail about choosing font families to reflect the mood and message of the design. That’s the challenge of typography, and I embrace it. I also agree with his philosophy on imagery: that images are often not necessary if the design is strong enough. However, most of the time they add so much to the overall design, and must be used properly. Whether it’s background imagery/textures or foreground objects, they should be used sparingly and correctly. The individual project determines just how “spare” and “correct”.

Concerning composition, Bowman like to keep imagery confined to a certain area of the design.  His reason?  To avoid cluttering.  This is a very mature way to approach design, and I like to think of myself as a mature designer as well.  Once he has the layout, typography and imagery ironed out, it’s time to compose “digital sketches”.  He drags objects from Illustrator and Photoshop and sees exactly how to put them together.  I think this is a very exciting stage of the design process: the pieces are all made, it’s just time to put the puzzle together.  To me, there’s nothing more rewarding to a designer than seeing a complete, successful project.  It doesn’t matter how good the images and type are if they’re not assembled properly, and it takes a great designer to put it all together.

His last point is about execution and implementation, which pertain specifically to web design.  This seems like the most frustrating aspect of designing for the web.  What happens if there’s no way to position your headline exactly the way you want it because the browser won’t allow it?  This is why I frankly prefer magazine layout and design, but also look forward to meeting the challenges of working with online browsers.  Bowman says that being the HTML and CSS designer is the best way to go, so that last-minute decisions can be made on the spot, rather than having to wait and consult another designer.  I agree, and hope that when I undertake jobs such as this that I am in charge of both HTML and CSS.

Overall, I agree with what Bowman has to say about the design process.  Most of it mirrors what I already do, and so far it’s worked out OK for me.