That word… Design – The Design Journey
Design is many things, across many different mediums. You may hear the word ‘Design’ being used and ‘over’ used in many places. In business, I have on occasion felt that the word ‘Design’ can have negative connotations when talking to non-design based businesses.
The word ‘design’… that expensive word, can bring MD’s out in a financial rash – Design = expense. Design shouldn’t be seen solely as an expense, it should be seen as an investment in your business, whether you are
Design should be more than just taste or making something pretty, it’s many things depending on the niche and problem it is trying to solve. I am a visual designer with a history of creating websites, banners, brands, animations, and game content. My attitude to design, it should solve a problem, convey a feeling or a message or all of that was mentioned. Design should be applied in a way that can push your product, message or marketing material to the next step using visuals, imagery and media, I like to create pieces that invoke excitement, create buzz and perhaps sell a product depending on the challenge.
I have created some illustrations to capture the nuances of the creative design Journey as it works for me. This isn’t a step-by-step process, it’s more discussion on how the journey often looks, with a slightly humorous slant.
Design is a Journey
With design, it can take time to arrive at the final result. It takes time to explore the relevant paths before finalising the best route to take in order to achieve the best outcome. People see this = The result
When the journey can look like this
‘Why not just use the one path?’ or ‘It looks easy’ I am glad in one respect that it ‘looks’ easy – maybe I did something right. Perhaps it’s the path I took to a slick or polished outcome, perhaps it’s practice.
Not always an easy road
Quality results which applies to design is rarely ‘easy’. Occasionally very quick – but not easy. If you went with your first unresearched approach it may look something like this.
But it was quick!
Going with your first design isn’t necessarily good design, effective or as it should be for the task. You may strike it lucky, but why leave business down to luck? Fast isn’t strictly good, it’s just ‘quick’ and ‘quick’ isn’t always best.
Design that looks straightforward in the end, may have taken different routes to success. When starting a substantial project I like to plan, like with most journeys. When creating a design it can be similar, how much is the budget, time, does it have brand look and feel, who is it for, market research, these are all factors that should be considered when creating a design, be it a website or a product.
With design, it can be as if cutting a path through bracken
Plan your journey
Before going on a long trip, do you plan what you are going to take? What if you are going away for two weeks and fail to pack tooth past, under-wear, or a passport? You plan it. A good design service should be the same for anything of size – granted you don’t need to plan for your regular trip to a metaphorical trip to the shop, you already know that route.
I often have a destination or a planned end. But my root make look something like this. Exploring all of the best roots and discovering from time to time better ways of doing things. Ideas can be tricky to ‘Process’ and itemise but the end results will show something.
Design Forks
A polished design
A good design can be part of polishing something or pushing an existing concept to it’s maximum potential.
I hope you have enjoyed having an insight into my design journey. If you would like to share my approach or sign up to my newsletter that would be great. I can sherpa you to creating something that you could be proud of.
You can reach me here : Design
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