Getting the juices flowing: Design Process

steve_

Hey guys i was hoping maybe some people could give me some suggestions in relation to speeding up/ starting a design process. Iv recently started a course in college doing graphic design and webdesign. One thing i notice is i find it very hard to get ideas onto paper, iv never really had to design things before so the whole process and idea is alien to me.

For example one of my current projects is to design a poster raising awareness about Biodiversity. Iv never had to sit down and start knocking out ideas before so i dont even know how to start. Iv done the usual things, researching the topic, collating words that relate to the subject, mind maps, brainstorms bla bla bla...but i just feel its not very productive. I find it very hard to get idea onto paper and iterate on these ideas.

If anyone has methods that work for them or any material they've came across that tackles this subjects id love to hear it. Cheers

cian corrigan

Hey Steve
I'm totally new to boards so hope im posting this right!

Anyway I am currently working as a part-time Graphic Designer and a full-time student and I've found my self battling with the same issue mostly with college assignments but one of my lecturers has mentioned "greedy eyes" a number of times.
try looking at other design work for inspiration including work that is in no way related to your topic this I find helps put your own new twist on work and avoids the obvious solution.

hope thats even slightly helpful !
cian

steve_

Hey cian i think my main problem is i rely on google too much for inspiration. I cant sit down and just start working on ideas i find it very hard to get the ball rolling. Like i said im only new too all this so im a bit unsure as to how to start. Guess my just gonna have to try my best to churn out ideas and see where it leads.

looksee

Getting ideas is the hardest part of design, but its also the most important if you want to be a creative designer.

Possibly you are trying to 'think' it too hard. You have to have patience and allow your imagination to wander round the subject and work out a solution rather than trying to find it ready made.

You may have got going on this by now as I see your post was over a week ago. Don't worry about posters for the moment. Continue to do what you have been doing, check out what is biodiversity, try several sources. Note down some key words. Consider concepts and note them down. Don't just concentrate on one source (ie internet) check in paper dictionaries and a paper theasaurus. Look in an encyclopedia, go into the library and look at related text books. Why do this? Because different media get different bits of your imagination going. Maybe that isn't a scientific fact but its the way I experience it!

Then sit down with a cup of coffee and some undemanding music and just let your mind ramble round the information you have found and jot down words or scribble thumbnails as they occur to you. Not finished ideas, don't worry about whether they will work or not, just put them on paper. Then maybe the next day look over them again and try to develop some of them.

One of the most useful resources to a designer is a very wide general knowledge - a bit of awareness about a lot of things makes it much easier to chase ideas. Read up on traditional signs and symbols, significance of colour, look at books of photographic images - patterns, geographic features, look around you as you walk and notice things, open your mind to everything.

steve_

Thanks looksee. To be honest i think im bashing myself a bit much. Like im not even three months into the course and im expecting myself to knock out great ideas and concepts when in reality that wont happen....at least not with so training, observation and patience. I agree with you about the library, i love browsing through books related to nature and geography, but honestly i aint been to the library in years. Guess now would be a great time to go back. I think for this project ill try ease up with the thinking and try be more observant. Like the other day i was just sitting there staring at a screen racking my brains for some ideas and hoping for divine intervention but its not gonna happen and i think i realize now that i need to chill out more.

I only recently came across grooveshark and i love using it to play ambient music while i work. Anyways heres a pic of just some ideas i came up with today, not really that happy with them and dont really know where to go from here

http://img72.imageshack.us/i/bioideas.jpg/

looksee

The ideas you have so far have some good ideas, but they are mostly more about depletion of resources or climate change/ pollution than about biodiversity.

Have you thought about genetics - gene models, perhaps a strand of dna incorporating different species images. The tree of life model; or if you want to get a bit humourous, a noah's ark?

cian corrigan

totally agree with looksee especially about the reading up on an assignment partly what i ment by greedy eyes one website ive been in love with lately is where i buy my books its www.bookdepository.couk its insanly cheaper than any ive found and actually please let me know if you know a better one.
sorry if thats abit of the point taught it might be helpful!

p

One tip i've heard. You have to have 100 bad ideas before you'll get the right one. That helps me start sometimes. Just sketch out all the bad ideas you can think of, otherwise they'll block the good ones. You can do that as you're researching too if it works. Then when you've got a load of ideas, circle the best 10 (maybe talk to someone else at this stage too) and then play around with those. Then take the best 3, and develop them further, and then take the best one and run with it. The early rounds can be very quick & very rough, don't even think about using a computer until you're down to at least 3.

Try that and see if it helps.

(also, don't beat yourself up - design process is what your there to learn, and you can only learn by doing it wrong many many times - Fail early, fail often and you'll do great things)

steve_

Cheers guys. Popped up to the library there tonight, its been a long time since i stepped foot in a library i can tell ya!! But i must say im glad i went, theres so much reference material its insane. I dunno but i always had an idea of the library holding 1000's of books that people dont care for but i got some gems tonight and i didnt even get much time to browse. Got a book on the greatest art to come out of bauhaus, a book on japanese logos and adverts and some other ones like foundations of drawing and some books on trees, animals and geography. I much rather sit down with a cup of tea and browse through a book then trawl through webpages. But cheers guys for the tips and suggestions. Hopefully the creative floodgates surge open soon enough :P

Also just a question related to my process. Im currently doing all my work on my pc, using a tablet to draw in photoshop. Should i ditch this method for the time being and just doodle on paper? Probably answering my own question here but i do find it a bit uncomfortable sitting at the desk all the time with the temptation of going browsing the net.

looksee

steve_ wrote: »

Also just a question related to my process. Im currently doing all my work on my pc, using a tablet to draw in photoshop. Should i ditch this method for the time being and just doodle on paper? Probably answering my own question here but i do find it a bit uncomfortable sitting at the desk all the time with the temptation of going browsing the net.

Yes! a cartridge sketch pad and a good pencil, or fine liner, or whatever you prefer to draw with. No eraser! A computer is just a tool, same as a pencil and paper is a tool, use whatever you are relaxed with. A computer at this stage is limiting, you can't easily have a book on your lap or on a table and get at the computer too, you end up distracted, juggling stuff.

carol88811

As a life long artist I have found what works for me is keeping an archive of images that interest me then when I have a project I look through all my photos and source material to get inspiration. I don't copy things, but rather use them as a spring-board. Think about what you like about the image and use that- for example you might have a close up of a tree frog with gigantic eyes with a day-glo orange and green colour scheme- maybe use those colors , or use eye close ups or what ever it is that drew you to the image or ad in the first place. Always look at other artists work - it is inspiration not copying. Use their line quality or use of space or what ever. Write down ideas as they come and you may use them years down the line- your sub-concious is always working. Keep a notebook !

steve_

Thats one thing i dont do is keep notes or sketches in a notebook. I guess maybe its because iv never learned to draw that the idea of doing sketches never came into my head. But i agree with what has been said that just jotting down any ideas gets them out of your head and allows other things to come through. Anyways i think its something i should get into.

steve_

Ok so i love looksee's idea about dna, what im going for now is a dna strand basically made up of tree trunks and a water droplet on the end iv put up an image to give the idea. Only thing is im struggling to make the tree bark pop in the image. Iv created a clipping plane between the texture and the dna and played around with the blend modes but cant seem to get the effect i want

http://img227.imageshack.us/i/biosl.jpg/

Ok got it a bit better, but still now great. Maybe some dodging and burning. Anyone have suggestions where to go next? i might put some vines hanging from it and i still need to involve animals.

http://img3.imageshack.us/i/biov0.jpg/

ok think im getting tired now, just playing around with backgrounds. Im gonna wrap this up tomorrow because iv loads of other stuff due. Crits welcome

http://img146.imageshack.us/i/bioj0.jpg/

AND!!!! DONE!!! glad its out of the way, fail early fail often is my new motto.......gets me off the hook :P

http://img508.imageshack.us/i/biofinal.jpg/