The Creative Process

Creative Process: A series of steps repeated every time you design something.

Why do we need a process?

1. It improves consistency.
2. Gives you the ability to time and plan your work.
3. It raises the quality of your work.
4. It helps you communicate more effectively and in a more professional manner.

Steps to the Creative Process

1. Research:Research the client and the competition. Get online, look in magazines, listen to music, pay attention to the world around you.. whatever you need to do to get inspired. The more you know, the easier the project will be!!                         
2. Brainstorm/Inspiration: Striving to be unique and innovative while still following the current trends, ensures a fresh and creative approach.                                                                         -What kind of message am i trying to communicate?                -Who is my audience?                                              -What am I trying to tell them?                                  -What colors/styles/visuals would work for this audience?             
3. Sketching: Sketch to get your thoughts out and to work through ideas. Thumbnails, thumbnails, and more thumbnails.                      
4. Execute: Implement your ideas. Combine type and imagery, into a well developed composition. Utilize design principles and visual organization guidelines to help. Try techniques, explore possible options and analyze the outcome. If you get stuck, walk away and clear your head. If the peace doesn't look the way you imagined and isn't working, try another idea. Forcing an Idea won't make a good design.                               
5.  Critique & Revise: Take a step back , and look at your design with an objective eye. Make sure the design effectively conveys the message to the intended audience. If it doesn't, go back and tweak the composition 'til it does! Asking others for their opinions will help with this process.