The Design Process
You: "Mr. Storm, I'm not a creative person. I have no idea how to make this look good."
Me: "Have you tried BARFing?"
You: "Uh...." (As you slowly back away)
My Design Process
Every designer has their own set of steps, or algorithm, for creating something new. If you look online, you will find dozens of articles about the "right" process to use. I say phfffffffoooeeeyyyy to all of that (sorry for spitting everywhere). I came up with my own design process which works for me. It's important to note that this is just what I use, not necessarily what you should use. If you have a different process that works for you, great!
BARF Until It Looks Good
Step 1: Brainstorm
When presented with a new design challenge; whether it's a document, a website, a piece of music, a video game, or a bedazzled denim jacket, I always start with a brainstorming session. Brainstorming is a concept most people are familiar with, but few actually know how to do it. The guy who came up with the idea of brainstorming, Alex Osborne, in his 1948 book Your Creative Power [2]
Brainstorming is essentially the process of coming up with a bunch of ideas, no matter how terrible, and laying them out visually so they can be considered.
The Rules of Brainstorming:
1. No criticism is allowed during brainstorming. (Evaluation of ideas after the brainstorming).
2. Quantity is important. The more ideas the better. (Don’t worry about speaking out only “good” ideas).
3. Wildness is good. Crazy ideas are welcome. (Many times, the craziest ideas turn out to be the best ones).
4. Combining other ideas and taking another person’s ideas a step further or using them for yet another idea is good.
A critical piece of the brainstorming process is putting your ideas down visually. This usually, for me at least, means sketching the ideas in a notepad or on a whiteboard. It doesn't have to look good, this is the rough-rough-rough draft of your design, but this does help to visualize the final product. Sketching is CRITICAL, don't forget to include it in your design process.
Step 2: Attack
Once all your ideas and sketches have been stormed out of your brain, you need to attack the design. By this, I mean you need to throw it together as quickly as possible. Take your favorite idea and replicate the design using the computer. This is the rough-rough draft. Don't take forever, just get it on the screen. Once you complete one version, start over with your second-best idea. Speed is key here. You want two different versions of the product by the end of this step.
Step 3: Refine
Take a break. Don't look at your designs for a few minutes, hours, days, years, however long you need to stop thinking about it. Do something else. Pet a dog, write a sonnet, pick your nose; do you. Then, once you are far enough away from the idea, look at the designs with fresh eyes. Try to see them the way an audience would. You will immediately see all the flaws in your designs. You will curl up into the fetal position and proclaim yourself the "worst designer in the universe". No? Just me?
Listen, this is a good thing. If you are finding the mistakes and weird design choices in this step, your audience won't see them later. Being critical of your own work helps you grow as a designer. Look at professional examples and contrast them with your design. Why do you like theirs better? What's different? These questions help you refine your style and learn what works, and what doesn't.
Next, pick your favorite design of the two and make the required changes. Now that we are only working on one design we can really focus our efforts. Take your time but don't obsess over every detail. Perfectionism kills productivity. This is just your rough draft, calm down. Once it is as good as you can make it, save your work and move on to...
Step 4: Finalize
Now it's time for the worst part of the creative process, showing other people. Hey, I get it, making things is fun, other people ruin that fun by having things like "opinions" and "taste". Who needs 'em? Well... you do. Here's why:
Have you ever seen someone wearing something they just couldn't pull off; red cowboy boots, a fedora, a mankini, etc.? The reason they think it's OK to walk around like that is because they didn't have someone in their life telling them "NO! BAD! Put the Crocks down and back away slowly!". We need those people to keep us in line. Other people are annoying, but they sometimes have a good point. Listen to their feedback so you can escape your own self-delusion.
Have someone else look over your design and give you feedback. Make notes as you listen so you can consider the changes you want to implement later. Don't argue or try to explain, just listen. Once they are done casually destroying your hours of hard work, thank them. Yeah, seriously. Giving someone honest feedback is difficult, you should be grateful for their input.
Once you've excused your victim and are alone again with your, now terrible, work you can make the required changes. Sometimes you change so much that you need to "go back to the drawing board" and start over. That's fine, you learned valuable lessons along the way, so your effort was not wasted.
When you are happy with the final design, take one last look. Make sure every word is spelled correctly. Make sure every color is the shade and hue it's supposed to be. Make sure every image is crisp and in the right spot. Polish that sucker until it sparkles.
Finally, after all of that, you can publish your work.
References:
[2] Osborn, Alex. "Your Creative Power" Myers Press, Mar. 15, 2007.