Bonnie Cook – Design Musings

A subtopic of my research paper that I have been thinking about and exploring through some readings is the ethics of graphic design storytelling. Since the concept is not real beyond the examples I have found (quite limited and only to similar disciplines), there is the need for me to also define what the hybridization of graphic design and storytelling is for me to be able to think of the ethics of doing it in practice.

Defined in my mind: Graphic design storytelling is considering the visual and conceptual narrative of a design problem and guiding the user through the elements of the work through the storytelling format. It is taking the widely-used practice of storytelling and aiding the audience to better understand the designer and the design. There are both interpersonal and interpersonal aspects of graphic design storytelling as it can also aid the designer in very intimate ways (his/her ideation process and means of execution).

Reading the methodology books within unit 8 was a direct indicator to me of how to effectively convey a storyline throughout the process for the self and for other designers. The story is as much the exploration and deviations as what was selected to go forward.

Back to ethics, the concept of ethics for graphic design storytelling is merged from two angles in my mind so far. There is the angle of ethics in literature, in what it means to tell a story and why it is important to consider the impact (especially if the stories you are telling are true) and then there is also ethics within graphic design exclusively. Two sources that have helped me expand my understanding of ethical design storytelling is the article by Daniel Taylor, “The Ethical Implications of Storytelling” and Lucienne Roberts’ “Good: An Introduction to Ethics in Graphic Design.” Taylor’s work explains how stories teach people to live, empathize, and act with a view. He warns that stories can either aid or abuse those who the stories are about and that something as metaphorical as a story can have real consequences (such as oppressing a culture) [1]. The majority of the article examines the impact that storytelling has on oppressed individuals. Toward the end, he reiterates that stories can change the world literally. The holistic potential of this practice is directly applicable to designing. The second source, Roberts, considers ethics versus morality and what makes a designer good. I am most interested in what things designers must avoid when creating (whether it is the design or the story) and applying that as precaution in my research. Paula Scher is interviewed within the book and she asks what exactly is being asked of her within the question “Are you a good designer?” She states that she believes she is a good designer most importantly because she understands the power of her messages and her responsibility for making them and sending them out into the world [2].

I think that from both of these readings, I can draw that the ethics of storytelling in graphic design is the same as the ethics of storytelling and graphic design separately. It is taking ownership of the work and making damn sure that what you are producing is the truth, is doing good rather than harm (physically or mentally/emotionally) unless it is to a greater evil perhaps, and fostering a relationship with the message throughout the life of it in the world. I think the fostered relationship can be another way that GD storytelling can aid the profession and the people that associate with design as clients or practitioners.

Sources:

Roberts, Lucienne. Good: An Introduction to Ethics in Graphic Design. New York: Watson-Guptill Publications. 2006.

Taylor, Daniel. “The Ethical Implications of Storytelling: Giving Ear to the Literature of the Oppressed.” Mars Hill 3 Fall 1995: 58-70. Print.

Reflect on the three process books shared during this unit. In your post, assess how each book design successfully and/or unsuccessfully communicates the designer’s ideation process and guides the reader through the creative process. Are there specific communication tactics that any of the designers use that you may want to integrate into how you present your own process?

Process #1: Jane A. Dorn’s Methodology Book 

Overall, this methodology is thorough and easy to follow from beginning to end. The file begins with the project description (literally the very first step for every designer – receiving the information). From there, she addresses the target audience, which is defined as potential designers that are 18 years old approximately that want to learn more about graphic design as a profession and process. She shows the initial brainstorming session of some objects with structured sequence that repeats. I chuckled at the myth list of where strong ideas come from – Santa, first idea (unless you’re Paula Scher), etc… I think the brainstorming of opposites (the crazies) is also a great avenue that was considered. It allows more of the out-of-the-box thinking to occur early on in the process. The very distracted audience described by Dorn makes me think of Jessica Helfand and the Short Attention Span Theater audience she describes as “today’s viewers.” I think it is valuable to social media took prominence in this consideration especially as it is one of the main forms of writing and communication for this age group. The overall approach to future graphic designers being so hard to reach in order to convince to become communicators is sort of scary to me. Isn’t it damning to think that we can’t even get the visual communicators of the future to listen to the message of how they can become effective? Thankfully, I think by approaching the “least approachable” audience is a good tactic, as it is going to attempt to reign in as many listeners as possible. The two concepts that Dorn toys with are the eBook and then the Not-Your-Average Book. The eBook is interesting as an approach as more people are reading via the screen. Even for potential students to be able to access this information digitally says a lot about the current of our culture. It makes me think of this format of eLearning and how we are so dependent on being able to learn through screen information, even the more virtually tangible elements. The Not-Your-Average Book takes the audience away from the screen for awhile and Dorn reflects that this is a nice change for the screen-addicted generation. From this, she goes on to consider a trip to Disney World to ride the roller coasters for a very crazy, yet very cool vantage on the cyclical design experience. She discovers that the parks are limited in hours during the winter and has to abandon the idea (she does go forward and present the exploration quite far and effectively, though!) She is honest that the brainstorming session did not get her to any major breakthroughs and reminds herself to not stop too soon and mull it over. I nodded in agreement to this I’m quite sure as designers, we’ve all been guilty of doing this at one point or another. Dorn then goes back to the circular book idea and says she is inspired by Ken Leslie’s Space and Time. The interactive element of this book is brilliant as it is like the digital realm of interactivity reinterpreted onto the older form (the printed piece). The folded shape of the prototype makes me think of a paper coffee cup. The first stages of the collages actualized onto the screen were very overwhelming in the abrupt transition of pages. I understood that these were the concepts and did not let it distract me too much from the point of seeing them in that way. The naming of the project Quest seems very appropriate as designers do often take on quests in the same style of King Arthur to make chaos into clarity. The mockup is very clean on the outside but intensely chaotic inside (especially those first few pages). It is nearly impossible to read the initial process though I am thinking that was part of the point. It goes from super clean to really really messy to clean again as a piece, which feels a little disjointed to me. I want to see a little of the mess on the front as well to make it feel less sterilized. I wish that Jane had shown more in the beginning process as her inspiration (like she did with the roller coaster). Maybe by showing the Space and Time concepts. I think that the idea is beautiful, but there are some steps in both the methodology and the execution that are missing in order to fully grasp the cyclical process.

Process Book #2: April Bliss’ Design Brief and Final Process Book 

I looked over her process book for dog leashes as well. It is incredible. It has to be my favorite piece of the examples that were shown in the unit. For this particular discussion, I chose to focus on the process book for design methodologies as a general subject to align with my discussion of the other two books.

The file opened and as soon as I saw that the PDF was 113 pages, I abandoned ship to take a temporary break from homework. Once I returned and took on this tome of a process, I noticed how very clean the introduction is. The left side of the spreads are clear photographs of the actual defined terms that are elaborated upon on the right side of the page. The stated target audience is for 15-18 year old high school students. Initial resources shown are teen-geared magazines (Teen Vogue, J14) and I worry that these not only greatly leaned toward the female audience, but also in a fictionalized way. I remember those angst-heavy years wishing that someone would see me as more than doodles, shopping, and fragmented phrases. The magazines generally give the mental perception of an audience of 13-14. The interviews conducted on the twin 13 year olds was not a very effective sampling of the population. What should have been done was to randomly survey a large group of both genders that were within the target age range. Beyond that, I do think that the target imagery explored says something interesting about the design that is going out to teenagers today. The DIY, sketchbook approach to magazine ads and articles makes me think about the sister revolution of networks like Pinterest where everyone wants to have some degree of self-sufficiency in their otherwise heavily vended daily life. The thumbnails sketched by Bliss do an excellent job of addressing this trend and consider ways to express the audience. The energy drink is definitely a staple of the later teens. Healthy or not, it is something that I remember seeing scattered at every football game and often in my own car’s upholder as I carried about my daily activity in the world of high school. The purse concept once again was geared toward the female audience only and it was a good decision to move forward with the energy drink. I like most the consideration of the water bottle. What is cool about that approach is the reusable nature of the product and less waste. It is also encouraging a choice of drink, but encouraging something healthier than carbonated crack. The mind map examples are also very strong. I like the bubble concept on page 37. It gives a visual sense to the bottle/can approach with the circles. Bliss even included her weekend hot air balloon ride in the process, which definitely accents the premise that this is supposed to be the entire process. I can appreciate the break half way through this gigantic PDF as well. The sleeve mockups look good, but some of the ideas feel like they were not carefully executed in the technical craft aspect, which I think is distracting from “selling” the idea to move it forward. Of the wraps, I thought the spiral was really neat. I could see that sufficing as a funnel shape for the design process funneling down into a result like some of the ideation models we recently explored as a class in Dubberly’s article. The mobile approach and final can approach are both extremely well-crafted and answer to the need for an effective product for the message. I was happy to see the can was explored in yellow rather than the original black paint in the earlier concept. All of the final photographs of the product are great. It allows a real intimacy with the product and how it works. This process book did a good job of visually taking the viewer through the entire process, even if some parts were dead ends.

Process Book #3: Jamie Turpin’s Experimental Panel Design

Like the other two process books, Turpin’s book begins with a process that feels generic enough, but it also doubles as the table of contents for this PDF. Turpin contacted Helen Armstrong to ask for permission to use her article and book and I thought that this was a very wise inclusion in the process, as it shows the lengths that designers go to get something approved. It is also just a cool thing to brag about, if you’re into that kind of thing. The process book then focuses on the audience considerations and then Turpin’s own experience with technology as a designer as a reflection of Helen Armstrong’s article. Following the article and reflection are a brief brainstorming word session and then transition into images. The research is very thorough as Turpin explores visually masters of these typographic styles and approaches. There are studies done on nearly every lens of interpretation for this project. There is a very smooth transition between the images and context in the research and then the product being executed. The thumbnails for this process are carefully and very technically drawn. They are easy to understand for the process and each concept is accompanied by its original source of inspiration for comparison. The mockup of concept 4 is very similar to the explored typographic styles from earlier in the process. I wish there were more images of this final process though as it feels like i cannot closely connect with the treatments in the way that I can with some of the research imagery. Overall, this approach to the process visually is powerful and well thought out.

From these three process books, I have quite a bit of information to take in regarding my own process and how I would even begin to visualize it. I know that I currently lack the thorough nature of photographing each step like these designers did in their work and could benefit from doing so. I like how there were a lot of “research” elements directly applied into the process that may not always make it into mine. If a direction doesn’t work entirely, I often don’t bother to include it, which could be hindering me from repurposing it in a good way. Another lesson I can take from these books is that the process book is how we can intimately tell the behind-the-scenes story of our design. No moment should be left out, even if it is a hot air balloon ride. I think of the success of TED speeches and it is not a rigid process. It is a fluid moving through the raw encounters experienced from the beginning to the solution and as an audience member viewing these books, I appreciated all of the small considerations that were described or sketched.

I wanted to share my new love…

The Matboard

What are you learning about yourself and your creative process as a result of this unit’s discussion of values? 

Values are more objective than they appear to be, as what we choose to do through our design does affect others, whether we intended the impact or not. My creative process inherits personal perceptions of the world and this weeks discussion of values has made me more aware of what this means when design is driven by personal values alone (some being very different from others). I do believe that a degree of difference is preferred because there is a richness of seeing a value through the many facets of understanding it beyond my own. I also am aware that I must be careful of the values that I instill or refrain from using in my work and to the best of my abilities foresee what happens with my design as I am creating it and after it becomes the voice of something else. An example that came back to me this week from an earlier class is Paul Rand’s logo designs for large corporations. He couldn’t predict what Enron was going to become beyond when he designed the logo, but he said there were companies that he did turn down because he was initially aware of their beliefs and they were contradictory to his own. My creative process has a fairly consistent route, but it is forever changing based on the type of design I am doing for a project. There is really (to me) no singular voice that goes into work over and over again by the same designer. The values I possessed when I first began designing are immensely less developed than the way I approach work now. It is a reminder to myself to constantly keep abreast of my own methods and why I do things. I will likely feel that the way I design now was very immature when looking back upon it from a future date. That is just how design goes as it is an act of our present self every time we sit down to create.

How do you find that values (personal, political, cultural, etc.) inform your creative practices?

Values of all kinds affect my creative practice as I learn about them. I think of values as drivers to my inspiration, since they are often the fruits I pluck from my mind to interpret into a design. Examples are social issues, personal obstacles or growth that I have experienced, and political disturbances or hopefuls that I set my sights upon. The best designs I have ever produced have grown out of a personal belief or understanding that I creatively expressed to communicate with others. Almost every graduate project I have completed while a student at SCAD so far has stemmed from some value that informed my process. The same happened as an undergrad. I think this happens because those values are how we reach into ourselves as humanitarian individuals and are able to face these issues head on through design. Creating for a purpose is more gratifying to me than creating for the sake of creating. It is a work ethic that is inside of me that keeps me pushing an idea and feeling like it is something beyond a selfish motive of my own. My practices are always adapting to new avenues of communicating these values as well. Whether it is out-of-the-box reinventions of old means of communicating or experimenting in a completely new channel, having a value to inform design decisions is a guiding light and a gratifying result.

Throughout this week, i’m working on my concept map, outline, and thesis statement for Project B. It is my first time taking a limited literature review and translating it into a research paper and despite the fluid sense of transition between the two theoretically, i’m nervous about making sure that I do a good job to model my process in future limited literature reviews to research papers. As this unit’s second blog is open topic, I wanted to free write into my thesis for arguing my position on graphic design storytelling.

A quick revisit to my limited literature review thesis:

The goal of this paper is to explore the possibilities of and need for graphic design storytelling to be included in the process and thinking of all graphic design. There are already processes in place within similar disciplines that can give perspective to whether this method could work for graphic design specifically. The goal is also to look at the unanswered calls to begin to develop more meaning within design and address if there are any potential setbacks that could exist in developing design storytelling as a methodological practice.

What I want to argue is that it is beneficial to the graphic design field on many levels, for students to professionals that are already practicing in the field to adopt the storytelling element into their process and the “selling” of their work to a client. Reading Dubberly’s article about the various ideation processes that exist across disciplines has given me the idea to propose storytelling as an ideation process. The other, slightly older idea that I have been toying with is developing the storytelling element of graphic design as a theory and write about it in that way. Both would be practical developments beyond the argument itself, but the theory idea seems like it may need to be an idea that I revisit at a later date if I could actually instill the process first (as theories often follow practice).

The neatest part of this project following the limited literature review is redrawing my concept map. Because of the questions I am asking myself in the process of mapping it out, the directions are varying a bit. It makes me question whether it is because of the argumentative nature of the topic perspective or purely heuristic bias at work. Either way, it is proof that revisiting a concept (even if it is a beginning ideation) over and over through a longer process can serve a purpose.

Review the models covered in Hugh Dubberly’s “How Do You Design?”. Have you identified any steps that should be added to your own creative process? Please provide justification for your thoughts.

Three different models described in Dubberly’s “How Do You Design?” have caused me to reconsider my creative process because of the styles of ideation more so than the process itself.

The IDEO model from 2004 states in five steps their ideation process:

1) Observation

2) Brainstorming

3) Rapid Prototyping

4) Refining

5) Implementation

They elaborate on each step but essentially this is how IDEO takes on design challenges and processes them internally as a group of thinkers. The third element, rapid prototyping, is especially valuable to me as it is something I have not done before. The D-School at Stanford is an institution that I think of immediately as a successful user of rapid prototyping to discover new and effective ways to design something. It is about letting go of the constraints of the premeditated aspect of the creative process and figuring out tangibly ways to solve the issue.

Bryan Lawson’s Creative Process (1990) is simple, yet the descriptors to each of the steps is different from my own process in it’s conscious, careful approach to the solution:

1) First insight – Formulation of the problem

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2) Preparation – Conscious attempt at solution (sort of like IDEO’s rapid prototyping)

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3) Incubation – No conscious effort

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4) Illumination – Sudden emergence of idea

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5) Verification – Conscious development

Lawson’s process interests me because of the more abstracted approach to solving a problem (doesn’t feel as strictly strategic as IDEO’s). The hardest stages for me in the creative process are incubation and illumination because of my lack of patience. I think incorporating these into my process are important to slow me down.

Third, Clement Mok and Keith Yamashita’s Process of Designing Solutions (2003) is lengthy, yet important for me to consider in my creative process for the adaption to “team environments.” Currently my process is very personal and considers how a single person would take on the process (no surprise since it is in fact my own creative process). It is true that I work differently in a group setting generally (which is honestly 50 hours of my week) and the three four-step phases of their process embodies the communal ideation process, somehow even better than IDEO does to some extent. The reapplication of the process into “justifying” the Iraq war was pretty sobering. The third iteration of what “AIGA didn’t tell you” is interesting and is a reality check to keep in mind as I reconsider my ideation process.

I’ve been acutely aware of ways that people are disrupting the habits of reality through redesign and this is a particularly lovely example of what a library can be beyond our expectations.

How to Save a Public Library

*Forgive the spacing issues – otherwise the photos were all over the place!

Reflect on your experiences with disruptive wonder, as described by Kelli Anderson in the video “Kelli Anderson: Disruptive Wonder for a Change.” Are you open to creating disruptive wonder? Is the notion new to you? 

The phrase disruptive wonder resonates what I associate with the other phrase guerrilla artist, not just in the messages that are presented but in dismantling the process of creating a message. I am certainly open to creating disruptive wonders in my work and am deeply inspired by others who do the type of work that Anderson does as it reminds me to also be doing it! A book that I adore is Keri Smith’s How To Be An Explorer of The World. It is worth going out to buy for yourself, your child, your loved one, anyone who you think could benefit from a little disruptive wonder in their life. Go spend time on her website and prepare to be inspired. I attached what I sketched from her homepage prompt.

The entire concept of Keri Smith’s books are to discover the hidden talents in ordinary experiences and objects like Kelli Anderson speaks to in her TED talk. Every page is a slice of pure bliss and I have often left the house with it in my backpack to go do exactly what she inspires through the pages.

Self-initiated projects like this where you go exploring is often how I find the disruptive wonders in the world. It is seeing a pattern of feathers or leaves on the ground, hearing a phrase that a passing child uses that is truly brilliant. It’s all inspiration that goes beyond the confines of how we traditionally work through our process as graphic designers.

Sabrina Ward Harrison is an artist that I deeply admire for her spiritual, raw work that is filled with disruptive wonder. She reflects on not only the ordinary, but also the ugly and avoided. She reenvisions a lot of the ordinary in life through her lens of interpretation and they are beautiful because of that.

Work that is geared more directly to designers yet embodies the aspect of disruptive wonder are Ellen Lupton’s DIY books and IDEO’s method pack. They all inspire new ways of considering what we already know and may take for granted.

It all seems to circle around to becoming more passionate about whatever mediums we explore (even if we think we’ve seen them in every possible way). Poet Wallace Steven’s poem “13 Ways of Looking at a Blackbird” resonates this sentiment. We can see things anew all the time if we begin to think in this manner.

Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird  by Wallace Stevens

I
Among twenty snowy mountains,
The only moving thing
Was the eye of the blackbird.

II
I was of three minds,
Like a tree
In which there are three blackbirds.

III
The blackbird whirled in the autumn winds.
It was a small part of the pantomime.

IV
A man and a woman
Are one.
A man and a woman and a blackbird
Are one.

V
I do not know which to prefer,
The beauty of inflections
Or the beauty of innuendoes,
The blackbird whistling
Or just after.

VI
Icicles filled the long window
With barbaric glass.
The shadow of the blackbird
Crossed it, to and fro.
The mood
Traced in the shadow
An indecipherable cause.

VII
O thin men of Haddam,
Why do you imagine golden birds?
Do you not see how the blackbird
Walks around the feet
Of the women about you?

VIII
I know noble accents
And lucid, inescapable rhythms;
But I know, too,
That the blackbird is involved
In what I know.

IX
When the blackbird flew out of sight,
It marked the edge
Of one of many circles.

X
At the sight of blackbirds
Flying in a green light,
Even the bawds of euphony
Would cry out sharply.

XI
He rode over Connecticut
In a glass coach.
Once, a fear pierced him,
In that he mistook
The shadow of his equipage
For blackbirds.

XII
The river is moving.
The blackbird must be flying.

XIII
It was evening all afternoon.
It was snowing
And it was going to snow.
The blackbird sat
In the cedar-limbs.

I understood flow before reading the article by Csikszentmihalyi, but did not think of it as a shared experience in the way that is explained. It is something I have experienced naturally and within a project. Today I spent 6 hours working on a homepage mockup for my companies website. I stopped once to get coffee and use the bathroom. While working I was listening to music and was not really aware of the span of time that passed me by. This was definitely a flow moment. What I learned about flow through the article this past weekend was that it is apart from happiness. I assumed that they had to be interconnected and that flow was only a branch of happiness. Per Csikszentmihalyi, that’s not the case. It is a concept that is very specific and very broad at the same time. I have experienced flow when playing games, reading a book (quite often!), painting, working in a darkroom, driving, and most certainly while designing.

My understanding of flow in my life is when I am able to focus. What could potentially be flow in my daily life is often interrupted, whether by an outside source or by myself. I am most likely to experience flow when I am prompted into something. If I plan to spend the day out photographing a place or thing, I can easily find myself in the flow of the process. Even though the phenomenon is more abstract, I think it is best aided by objectivity of some sense.

I am someone who enjoys what I do, even if I do not always love my job of doing it. I find my flow much more often when I take on projects that give me more responsibility than when I am only producing. I think it is because I am having to be creative and lead and it keeps some part of my creative mind from getting bored. It is like the Buddhist advice regarding uniqueness. I also find it easier to attain the sense of flow if I have white noise of some kind. When I am working out, I am able to go for much longer and don’t focus on the time if I am also listening to music. The same happens when I am at my desk designing. The silence, though helpful in some ways, is not entirely helpful for me.

What I like about the Flow article most is its application of flow to solve stress. By keeping ourselves aligned with our realistic goals, we can work with a sense of direction and some of the “holy smokes I have too much to do” goes away, at least so we can knock some of the work out of the way. I have to get into this type of thought when I am overloaded with things to do and feel pressed for time. Two weekends ago when I had a lot of school work as well as freelance, I had to split my tasks into parts of the day. By looking at them as individual tasks to accomplish through flow, I wasn’t overwhelmed with the large amount of time total I would need to spend in that state. The start and stop for shorter projects kept me from feeling too panicked.

The obstacles of life are best met with creative and meaningful intent and the idea of finding flow to do so is appealing. It is no surprise that this was initially published in Psychology Today. It is really a “redesign” of our human experience, which is something I can appreciate in a world that does not cater to the luxury of flow very often unless we make it for ourselves.

My creative process in graphic design is more regimented than my creative process is for other creative acts, such as painting or gardening (things I do for myself and purely for pleasure). The most obvious reason for my process having a particular process with graphic design is because besides being what I love to to do, it is what I do professionally.

The process begins with a kickoff (meeting) with the client. We introduce ourselves, I give a little background information about my design expertise and we then begin to discuss why the client needs my help. S/he describes what they envision happening with their concept and I listen and take notes. I ask them open ended questions about what they are looking for. We talk about the time and cost parameters that surround the project.

Next comes the contract. I go and write this up specifically for a client after meeting the first time. I believe that the contract is as much a defining narrative of what we plan to do together and how we want to work as much as it is for my protection. In this contract is something sort of like the diagram that I made for this post – it defines how we can get to the solution together and explains what I am doing for them at different stages. It is nice because it serves as a type of itinerary for both of us.

Research is already happening before it becomes the official stage in my process, but after writing the contract, I engage in exploring what other designers have done to solve problems similar to the client for who I am designing an end-product. I make sure to explore any competing companies or earlier compositions of the idea. I begin to jot down words, sketch little inspirations, and drag images into a folder on my desktop.

Thumbnails evolve from my research process. I am making moldboards that show what the tone will be for the project (not as much color as pattern and style). I share with the client my research as well. I think it helps to go ahead and hear their feedback for elements that they like and don’t like at this stage and why because it answers questions I didn’t think to ask earlier.

Revisions – this is after the presentation of my research to the client. From the feedback, I go back out into the world and explore some more. I refine the thumbnails to better suit what the client is looking for if they were not satisfied the first time. I may do a second revision before moving forward depending on the complexity of the project.

Sketches are what I intend for the end product to look like. If it was a website I was designing, I would be presenting gray screens of how the content would appear. If it is a logo, I would be presenting drawn out iterations. This stage serves as my design’s conception.

Revisions come from this both personally (me realizing a direction doesn’t work very well once I begin to execute it) or through the client saying they don’t like where something is going.

Secondary Research is what I do to solve more complex problems that are arising in the process. If there is a way to execute something that I am struggling with, I look to see how other people have gone about doing it (especially within the Adobe programs if I do not know how to do something).

After spending time learning and designing, I am presenting to the client digital comps that are either computer sketches or a chosen hand drawn sketch that is being translated into the design solution. I make 3 – 5 variations of my approach, because it gives me a chance to hear what a client likes or dislikes about each one (rather than just getting the feedback on one idea).

By this point, I am working to go through my design and get it to the point of where the client is happy with it. We are going through the editing stage with fine tooth combs on both sides. I am currently in this stage with a client working on a logo. This is the hardest stage for me personally because I am trying to maintain the energy/excitement that I had in the beginning of the project, yet produce something that is strong without getting sloppy.

Eventually, a final is chosen and I create a file that includes this for the client. I save it to the appropriate formats and send it to the client. I bill the client an invoice of the project as well as a summary and close the job.

Something I like to do (that I was inspired to do actually by my current job) is to do a project postmortem feedback meeting. A few months after the design is out in the world, meet with the client again and hear about what they like or don’t like and what they have experienced on their end. I also like to hear what they think about working with me and things I can improve upon. It’s always quite humbling!

Once I reach the finish line for my creative process, i’m usually crossing the start line into another project. The process keeps me going and ensures that I am doing my best for each job.