For Project B in GRDS 701, I have furthered the topic that I presented in Project A on Design Style. For this presentation, I propose the idea that all designers need to master the understanding and use of Design Styles as an important part of their professional development.
Here’s the YouTube Link to the Presentation:
Last week I posted about a new Creative Process that I really liked called the Ideative Process. I felt that it would be a new and inspirational method for becoming more creative and I could integrate it into my existing model.
Well, I have to say, that was easier said than done, but I am excited for the challenge! As I mentioned, it’s the D (Deviate) step in the process that is so difficult for me. I am a creature of habit… always have been. I could literally eat the same thing for lunch every day and be happy. In fact, there are many weeks where I DO exactly that! I guess I get stuck in my ways…
I can totally see the benefits of following the new process and Deviating from my normal routines… but following through seems to be so difficult. Why? It’s not like I’m scared of doing new things… not at all! I love doing new things and going new places. If I had to guess, it’s an auto-pilot response to the normal everyday activities like driving or getting lunch. I’ve done these things a million times, so instead of consciously being aware of what I’m doing, I fall into auto-pilot.
Well, no more. It goes beyond my work…This is a habit that I want to… even NEED to break to live life with more varied and dynamic experiences and become a more creative person. I never thought a PROCESS would affect me like this! But this exercise has really opened my eyes. It’s exciting. I need to be more conscious of the mundane everyday activities and consciously BREAK the routines!
Well, this week, I have made some progress! Not only am I NOT sitting in the same café as I write this, but I have booked an exciting Spring Break trip to the Virgin Islands! Talk about breaking routines! I’m taking this bull by the horns and having some NEW EXPERIENCES!
The process books that were shown in this unit were very interesting to look through. Even though I have been a designer for the past 15 years, and have worked on the creative process both in and out of the academic setting, I have never seen such in-depth presentation of the creative process before.
My favorite take-away from each book are as follows:
Dorn – I particularly liked the end result of this piece. Not only did it communicate her process well, but the design was very unique and creative. I really enjoyed the shape and the complex folding system, as well as the outer casing. The design shows an interesting juxtaposition of the clean and modern, contrasted with a more grungy experimental typographic technique.
Biss – In her awareness campaign, I really enjoyed her emphasis on branding and marketing in the execution of the “I ♥ Leashes” idea. She came up with a clean logo, using strong typography, illustration and color scheme, then worked it into a ton of SWAG to promote the initiative! Very clever way to get the message out and make it stick with the audience.
Turpin – In this presentation I was really impressed by the depth of visual research performed. There were pages upon pages of cool experimental typography that informed her work. Research, for me, is a huge first step in the creative process, and it was good to see this student spend the time to gather so much rich and inspirational imagery to inspire the work.
I found each one to be interesting and unique in their own ways, and will remember these as I move forward analyzing, revising and perfecting my own creative process.
This week for my second blog entry, I decided to write about an issue that has been top of mind for me the past few days – Dealing with Clients.
There’s a saying that I’ve heard on occasion, “Advertising would be perfect if there were no clients!” This sentiment is one that every designer feels at some point or another in their career. I’ve been dealing with clients of various types for 15 years and every one of them is different.
I’ve had clients that respond to the work that I show them as if I were ‘the god of design’ and practically fall all over themselves giving me praise about how much they like the concepts… wanting to run with ALL of them! LOL! These are the types of clients that I LOVE, but they too have their own challenges. Obviously for multiple reasons, but especially for campaign effectiveness, we can’t run with ALL of the ideas presented. I’ve found that leveraging their respect for our work and counseling the client to make a good decision about which direction to head in has been the best strategy. This is where my “Agency Recommendation” goes the farthest.
Then, on the complete opposite side of the spectrum, I’ve had clients that are NEVER happy with a single thing we do! I even had a client once, (worst client ever but I won’t name names) who sat down and had multiple threatening talks with me about my team’s work saying that he felt we weren’t creative enough… eluding to my team being fired if we didn’t do better. Set aside all of the compliments he received from the audience about our design work, and that my studio even won an Addy Award on one of the projects we designed for him… some people are just never happy! These clients are toxic for morale and counterproductive to the work. Some indicators to help you recognize this type of client can be how many designers (and other staff) they have gone through in the past 6 months, how much time they devote to meetings and giving feedback, how they respond to contracts and invoices, and if they are willing to give a defined scope of work outlining what criteria (if any) they will measure “success.” That particular client experience had red flags all over the place and ended up being a big expensive business lesson for me, one that even required lawyers to settle our differences!
Most of my client experiences, however, have been somewhere in between those extremes. Another good saying is that “great work requires a great client,” and this is so true! The best clients are ones that understand that the work that we do is a collaborative process… it’s not a box of cereal that you pick off the supermarket shelf. It requires a give and take of strategy, ideas, creativity, time and trust. There will always be certain client issues that are irritating for us, like having a million changes to a piece, or changing their minds halfway through the process, or taking weeks to make a decision then when they finally do they want it turned around in a couple of days! LOL! These issues come with the territory of Advertising and Design. Starting out as a new designer in the industry, they can be very frustrating and difficult to deal with, but no matter how good the client is, they are universal issues and don’t define an individual client.
Giving good Client Service takes practice, and reading a client comes with time and experience and they are all different. Ultimately, every client relationship is just that… a relationship. And just like other relationships, they can be good or bad and have the ability to turn on a dime. They all have their own unique personalities, expectations, and temperaments. For designers, it’s important to keep in mind the key indicators that I described, and be mindful of any red flags that show up, as well as how the client makes you and your team feel. Remember that as Designers, our job is to strategically interpret and visually communicate the client’s message to a designated audience. We are working FOR the client…but we also have to be able to work WITH them! I have a saying in my studio that we make “Happy Clients by Design.” I believe very strongly in going the extra mile, and bending over backwards to make a client happy! However, when the situation calls for it, saying no can be the best way to protect yourself and your team.
While reviewing the creative process models presented in Hugh Dubberly’s “How Do You Design?”, as well as through the additional research that I have performed on this topic, I have come to the realization that while my own creative process works well for me, there are tons of ways that I could improve and build upon it.
The process that I use accounts for the full life cycle of a client campaign in my studio from start to finish. I could see adding additional steps within each phase of my process, particularly in the Concept Development phase. A model that I found online called
The Ideative Process has been the most inspiring for me in this Concept Development phase where Ideation is key. The process is based on the acronym IDEA:
I – INUNDATE YOURSELF INTO YOUR IDEATIVE FIELD
D – DEVIATE FROM YOUR ROUTINES
E – ENHANCE YOUR EXPERIENCE AND KNOWLEDGE VIVIDLY
A – ASSEMBLE IDEAS IDEATIVELY
The website says that the process is to basically “Collect as much information as possible into one place, then pick and chose among the available items to Assemble your Ideas. Then test different combinations until you have a solution.” It uses an analogy of a child playing with varied types of blocks; these are “new blocks” of knowledge and experiences that we have created in our brain throughout the process. Some of these blocks have been created from INNUDATING ourselves with information and experiences related to the subject we are brainstorming ideas for, while other blocks were created by the new and diverse array of experiences had while DEVIATING from our routines. All of these blocks that we are playing with have a multitude of connections in our brain because we ENHANCED them by engaging our emotions and all five senses when experiencing them. As we ASSEMBLE our ideas, we draw upon the blocks and try to fit different pieces together. Some pieces will fit together that are expected – they belong together. While others will be unexpected connections that are made with pieces that shouldn’t go together at all, just like a child at play.
While other processes that I read about talk about brainstorming or ideation, this process is a practical guide on HOW anyone can be more creative and come up with ideas. As I drill down on the Concept Development phase of my creative process, these will be the actual steps that I will begin to practice to maximize my creativity. I am particularly challenged by the DEVIATE step and look forward to purposefully putting myself in new situations and new places to break out of my own routines. I tend to be a creature of habit! Even as I write this post, I am sitting in the same café that I have sat in the past several weeks. Starting with little changes like working in a different café will be a good start… who knows, I may eventually work up to something really crazy like shooting a machine gun, or finally going on a missions trip to help bring relief to a disaster area!
The concept of Flow was very interesting as presented by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi in the article, “Finding Flow.”
While I haven’t read about this specific idea before, it is similar to some other concepts that I have been exposed to. For example, the idea of being so engrossed in a task (like driving a rout that you’ve driven before) that you lose track of time… you start out driving and your mind wanders, then all of the sudden you are at your destination… I have heard this described a “trance” state of mind. Or in a spiritual framework, achieving “enlightenment” or “nirvana” would be similar ideas.
In a creative framework, this idea of “flow” is similar to a concept I’ve written about before in a previous blog post where I reviewed a TED talk given by author writer Elizabeth Gilbert. In this talk, she describes an “elusive inspiration,” this universal feeling that all creative people come into contact with at one time or another in their career where they feel as if the inspiration for a piece literally is coming from somewhere else. As if there is a Spirit of Creativity that has breathed upon them and the work just “flows” effortlessly through the artist as a vessel.
While each of these various concepts are a little different, they all share similarities and seem to have a similar end result. I personally have experienced this a handful of times in my career… I agree with many of the criteria outlined by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi to achieve this, however it isn’t so formulaic for me. In addition to having certain environmental needs met, I also need to feel genuinely inspired by the goals of the work. In order to feel that I way, I need to connect with the project in some deeper way. Not every project that crosses my desk is one that I am connecting with in that deeper way… some are just basic or straightforward. Others have a goal or a theme or a philosophy that I feel strongly about, it resonates with me emotionally or spiritually, and through that inspiration I am engulfed by the project, experiencing a “flow.”
While not every project can be like that, when it happens it is like a magical type of experience. One where I am not just pointing and clicking for a client, but where I feel like the work is allowing me to express something meaningful. Maybe on a small scale, but perhaps someday on a larger culture changing scale, who knows… perhaps the Spirit of Creativity will bless me with an opportunity like that someday!
What is my Creative Process? I have written a few times in the past about my creative process and how it compares to other processes, modes, and theories that have been discussed in this class. Here is a diagram showing the exact process a project goes through in my studio:
This process has been refined during the past five years of running my studio, and is successful in my operations. The weakness in this process is how scalable it is with a limited team. I currently delegate certain parts of the process out, hiring additional team members as the project scope requires it.
The challenge that I have in this process is finding skilled team members that I can trust take on chunks of the process at a time. For example, when I hire a Designer, being a small studio, the designer must be skilled in almost every part of the process. I traditionally have always retained the Discovery step, as well as the Follow-up step, given that I have the relationships with the various clients. The Conceptual Development step is also crucial for me to oversee and lead in order to ensure that the highest quality work is leaving my shop. But the more steps in the process that I retain control over, the harder it is to grow.
What I have found is the larger the agency, the more people are involved in the process. In the past, when I worked for a large agency, there would be an individual team member on almost every step! An Account team to handle the client portions, as well as a Research person… or even a Research Department! The Creative team was composed of a Copywriter, Art Director, and Designer and would handle the Concept Development and Design steps. Then there was the Production team to handle Production and Delivery. Revisions would often touch every person’s desk in the agency, and often there is even a proofreader on staff!
Over the past five years, the size of my company has fluctuated depending on the volume of client work. I have been as large as a team of 6, and as small as a force of 1. My eventual goal would be to grow to have an Account Executive to handle the client interaction portions of the process, and allow me to focus more on the Conceptual Development step. As the company grows, having the skilled design team and developing outside freelancers for specialty skills like illustration, video production, and programming, will allow me to continue to be flexible and form teams to handle a variety of types of projects.
For Project A, I performed a Limited Literature Review on the topic of Design Style.
Here’s the link to watch it on YouTube:
As for my self-assessment, I would rate myself in the following manner:
| Criteria | Rating |
| Presentation Topic Introduction | Excellent: I think I did a good job of introducing the topic to the listener, making them understand the background information and how I arrived at the idea. |
| Presentation Tone | Excellent: Public speaking can be difficult for me, however I believe that I presented an energetic and engaging tone. There was a time or two that I slipped up in the narrative. |
| Vocabulary Presentation | Excellent: I had a good grasp of the vocabulary relevant to the topic and I provided definitions where needed. |
| Visual Presentation | Excellent: I feel that my visuals were dynamic, engaging, appropriate for my topic, and well designed. |
| Presentation Flow | Good to Excellent: The visuals and overall flow was smooth and made sense, however there were a couple of times where I got slipped up in my narrative and it made that particular section a little akward. |
| Presentation Timing | Good: I struggled with keeping my presentation short enough without losing important info. I went about 2 mins over the limit. |
In a previous blog post earlier in the quarter, I wrote:
“Graphic Design is the discipline of assembling, organizing, creatively interpreting, and visually communicating information and imagery to a designated audience with the intent to influence them towards a client goal.”
While I don’t at all disagree with my previous opinion about the definition of graphic design, I now feel like I have an understanding that the industry is in flux and has varying opinions about this topic. In my last project, I ran across a definition of Graphic Design on the AIGA website that really resonated with me:
“Graphic design is a creative process that combines art and technology to communicate ideas. The designer works with a variety of communication tools in order to convey a message from a client to a particular audience. The main tools are image and typography.”
I feel like my definition is pretty close to that and we are aligned in many ways… especially when it comes to the client message and the audience. I like how this definition says that it’s a process though. Much of the conversation surrounding the definition of our industry seems to focus on what we do as being a “process” rather than a “service” … this implies the client’s involvement in the end result, which I could agree with more.
As I was doing my research into the topic of Design Style, I started to investigate influences. There are several factors that influence Design Style… some of the ones that jumped out right away for me were Art and History. In fact, they may be the two MOST influential factors in establishing a particular Design Style. Take, for example, Victorian… The name itself is even derived from the monarch Queen Victoria. But there are other elements of history and art that both establish the major characteristics of that style. The color pallet, fonts and flourishes, imagery and illustration style, all come from a symphony of elements (art, music, fashion, architecture, cuisine, politics, industry, entertainment, religion, technology, etc.) that were popular at that time. The “Popular Culture” of the day.
Which actually brings up a couple of other major influences in establishing a Design Style… the location and time period. Continuing with our example, the Victorian style emerged from a period in time in Britain known as the Victorian Era, 1837 to 1901 during the reign of Queen Victoria. Both location and time period play a role… the Victorian style could not have emerged from any other time period or location. And the same is true with other styles; all of which have major contributors that fall under the umbrella of the “Popular Culture” of the day… The specific time period and location, along with the major movements happening in both the art world and the historical events of the day, all contribute to creating a set of visual characteristics that get grouped together under a specific design term.
The final influence on the development of a style is in the interpretation of those cultural microcosms by historians and educators. Without academic research performed, identifying and tying together similarities, there would be no set of visual characteristics to make up that movement.
