By following these five fundamental steps, you can be ready to tackle any type of visual design project — online or print.
Cover image via Rawpixel.
So you got a big job and have a client who wants you to design for them! Hooray! Now you’re sweating, thinking you may have bitten off more than you can chew. Nah, you got this.
New projects can be daunting and tough to grasp, especially if you’re trying to find a new angle from which to attack. However, when you break them down into bite-sized, smaller goals, you can tackle them with greater ease and organization.
Follow these easy steps when you approach your next design project for a simplified and organized workflow.
1. Three themes to keep in mind when interviewing a client
Image via Katsiaryna Pakhomava.
You will not always have a brief, or reference sheet, describing the goals and deliverables of a project. Many small business owners are juggling lots of different tasks, and they simply need work done, meaning your paperwork is very far down on their list of priorities. If you’re just starting out in this field, you probably don’t have the clout to demand a more fleshed-out brief from your client, especially if you sought out the work yourself.
You can, however, interview the client and get all their thoughts and expectations for your design work up front to create your own brief. Use the themes below to get the most useful information for your design brief.
- Empathy: To understand what the client wants to accomplish, determine the style of communication, or tone, they have in mind. It could be humorous, corporate, classy, edgy, etc. Help them solve their problem by understanding the way they approach the world and their customers.
- Interest: Take an active, genuine interest not only in your client but also in the field or industry in which your client operates. They will tell you if they want, say, a logo for their seafood restaurant that looks like the other seafood restaurant down the street. Or maybe they want something new that helps them stand out. Either way, you’ll end up looking at their industry’s history and using its language. Dig in and live it during this exploratory stage.
- Confidence: Believing in yourself, your skills, and your style is vital to success. You’re here to solve the client’s problem, and it will reassure them if you do so with confidence. And as a reminder, confidence doesn’t mean arrogance; treat clients, their time, and their money with respect, and you’ll receive the same in return.
2. Gather reference materials and inspiration
Image via dotshock.
Seek out established and well-curated design websites to see how others found solutions to similar projects. You can adhere to the methods or styles that you find, or figure out ways to break the mold. Regardless, your solutions should be different but relevant.
Here are just a few design resources to get started with:
- Behance — a stream of contemporary, polished, professional work. This is a good site to scroll through to get inspiration for style and direction.
- Designspiration — akin to Pinterest, but specifically for design. Build an inspiration board here, and save it to use later.
- AIGA Design Archives — it’s good business to stay current, but it’s good art practice to know the history of our trade. AIGA’s archives are expansive, making them almost equivalent to a library of design books.
Not all your research needs to start online. Visit a local used book store and scan the art section for titles or jackets that catch your eye. Flip through them for recent inspiration or examples of art and design history. Many artists of the early 20th century are closely linked to modern design.
Look for books on Bauhaus, Picasso, and Saul Bass — as well as some titles from the general design section to discover works that speak to you or the project specifically. You can easily find books on typography and logo design as well — both new and old. This is an excellent way to pin down the style you have in mind if you don’t know the terminology to search for it directly.
While you’re there, if they have one, flip through the record bins. You’ll find plenty of excellent design on record jackets, especially jazz records from the 1950s and ’60s, where typography and photography marry in perfect minimalist harmony.
3. Take time to think, sketch, doodle, connect the dots, and conceptualize
Image via Tortoon.
Take all this new inspiration stuff filling your head and begin the planning process. Start sketching out your ideas and blocking out the shapes and general flow of information. Remember, design is communication, so message hierarchy is of utmost importance.
If you’re designing a logo, you should hand-draw it until it’s near-perfect and then scan it to work in the computer. For ad layouts, it’s a great idea to use a grid.
This planning stage informs the final product and can help make a deadline less intimidating. Failure to plan can cause undue stress, leaving you feeling rudderless with a looming “problem” hanging over your head. This is easily avoidable if you just plan out your work using pencil and paper before you switch to a computer.
In some cases, like working with a familiar client or picking up previous work, going straight to the computer is fine. For new projects, you’ll want to connect directly to your creativity, and the best way to do that is by drawing and writing with your hands.
Here are some of my personal, weird tips for getting inspired on paper:
- With your non-dominant hand, draw circles on a page – big enough that you have to engage your whole arm – until you form a perfect circle out of one continuous line. Then do it again, and again. If you’re like me and need time or space between logical problem-solving and creative thinking, this will help bridge that gap by forcing you to make imperfect lines, and then average them until they are perfect. In other words, when you use your non-dominant hand to draw, it switches your brain’s hand-eye-coordination pathways, enabling cross-channel communication between the logical half and the creative half of your brain. That is possibly real science – or magic!
- Write a letter to yourself, or an imaginary friend, describing the project and how you’ve planned to start and finish it. Describe the client, the style you plan to design in, some elements of the design, etc. You can talk about the project however you want, discussing your excitement or maybe your dread about it. Doing this can help you visualize a plan of action and see the whole thing from above.
4. Get to work
Image via Rawpixel.com.
By this stage you should have everything you need to plow through and knock the project out. Your idea is fleshed out, and you just need to make it real. Use the appropriate program and techniques to do the work. Sounds crazy, or obvious, but I’ve seen people try to design logos in Photoshop more than once, and that will be a problem down the line.
Your workflow methods depend on the work you’ll be doing. Here’s a very general guide:
- Adobe Photoshop — for images and website layout (because it’s WYSIWYG design with actual pixels, like the web).
- Adobe InDesign — for print layout (even though it’s a powerful web and general layout tool now)
- Adobe Illustrator — for vector design, logos, and illustrative work (because it lets you scale designs).
It might be important to resurface to reset and do something else for a bit. This is crucial if you’re the type who needs breaks. In my experience, it’s helpful to see your own work from a fresh perspective many times throughout the process, which means doing something different for a bit. Wash dishes if you’re at home, walk the dog, play a game of Solitaire – whatever takes your mind off the design. If you’re at your best when plugging away until the end, do that. Just know yourself, and keep revising and exploring options.
Believe it or not, rest time is when you’ll overcome a lot of roadblocks. I’ve solved many design issues when not thinking about my project in any capacity – sometimes in my dreams.
5. Present and wait for revisions
Image via Jacob Lund.
Once you’re satisfied with your work and have answered all the project requirements and requests, it’s time to present to the client. If you’re friendly with them and can speak in their language, you have it easy. However, you’ll often find yourself presenting to marketing teams or other industry-specific departments, and you’ll need to use the language of those professions in order to sell your design effectively. The best advice is to practice and prepare your presentation, and speak clearly and with authority when you deliver. If you know your project and act professionally, you will exhibit the demeanor clients expect.
Be confident and open, but remain in control of the presentation and the project. You might have clients who immediately start asking questions or questioning your decisions. Politely acknowledge them by pointing out you are getting to whatever they are talking about. It might take a couple nerve-racking sessions like this, but you’ll get it down.
