How To Be a Graphic Designer Without Losing Your Soul, by Adrian Shaughnessy
One thing that I do almost subconsciously now is take notice in design. Every time I walk out the door I take notice in all the visual stimulus around me. This is not just, “oh, I like how that looks.” Actually, more often than not something will jump out at me if I think it is seriously flawed or poorly designed. The point I am trying to make it that since I have taken interest in computers and using them to create visual images, I hone in on minute details I see in the world around me. Adrian believes that this is at the beginning of the creative process. When we see things that inspired us, we want to emulate them. When we see things that bother us, we note it and stay away from them in the future. Whatever it is, we are constantly building our design intelligence. Most of the time we don’t even realize we are doing it.
In Adrian's last chapter, she bundles up a few characteristics that a designer should have. Besides talent, industriousness, dedication and a love of your craft is the driving force behind a good designer. Being compliant and submissive is not attributed to producing good work. Having the ability to question everything is only going to aid you in the business of design. Along with this, finding your design “voice,” which speaks to your personal taste and qualities. Having a vision of what good design is, confidence in that vision and lastly an awareness of fashion and cultural trends will allow this “voice” to shine through.
Adrian goes on to explain the three steps of creation, the brief, the research, and the process. The brief is a mandatory part of the creation process. This can be verbal or written. Most of the time you want it in writing, so there is something concrete to go by so the client can’t change what they said or meant later on. Not to say that you shouldn’t have meetings with your client and decide to change things or clear things up. If there is a verbal brief, it is a good idea to write it down to get you to start thinking about it. While doing this you should be looking for problems you may encounter about the meaning, audience, or pretty much any aspect of the brief, and bring these issues up with your client. Sometimes you are forced to disobey the brief when you feel you have the right answer, but there is much risk involved in doing this. I find it interesting that sometimes taking things into your own hands is the right choice to make. You know that you have to convince your client its right, cause you have directly violated what they asked from you. Sometimes it pays off, but others it could hurt you greatly. You don’t want to me known as the designer who doesn’t listen and screws everything up. On the other hand, if you know if you soul that it is going to inspire and hold emotional merit, you could end up with an extraordinary piece of work. It is a risk a designer has to take sometimes.
Adrian makes a good point about research, that is not new news but useful non-the-less. Knowledge is power. We research certain subjects to gain an understanding of them. The better the understanding the better the more awareness we have of its contents and surroundings. This way, we can have a better grasp on how are designs will be seen by the specific viewers, as well as a direction to head to get a certain message across to these individuals. Doing research can open doors to new ideas that may have never been thought about otherwise. It is not only important to figuring out the audience in which you are designing for, but it also important to know the content in which you are trying to present. Knowing the information and ideas you are trying to design for and seeing where they fit into the cultural scheme of things is what is going to allow you to create a resonate design. Along with research, looking at magazines and books to seek inspiration is also part of this process. Not as much to try and copy a favorite designer, but to get the mind working to spark ideas that will eventually lead you to the basis for the design.
The process in which we create has greatly changed over the years. It was once a very hands on field, but now everything can be done with a mouse and a monitor. One thing Adrian thinks we lose from being in a digital world is the ability to take a step back and evaluate our own work. I agree that this is a very crucial part to ensuring your designs are as good as they could be. If you are a designer you will know that things can look different from screen to screen, T.V. to projection, and computer to print. Technology has allowed us many ways to view our material, each with their own set a parameters. Computer screens can be calibrated, LCD versus plasma, LaserJet versus inkjet ECT. I think it is import that we take the time to see our content in other places besides where our desk resides. Even ask other people or fellow designers in your studio for a second opinion. This may prove useful to see if they catch something your eye doesn’t. Another positive aspect of having everything computerized is that fact that you can explore many variations of a project easily. As Adrian stated, before we had computers it may take weeks or months to create different variations by hand. The process has gained efficiency with the introduction to computers, and allowed us to expand our options.
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