The Design Process

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The Design Process
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Good morning!

• Many of you may have, at some point, had me tell
  you to work on some sketches of ideas before you
  begin a project to get your ideas out.
• We are going to use that now!
• The point of this new project is to help you
  better work through your ideas, develop them, and
  get them down on paper!

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• In order to do that, we have to learn about
• THE DESIGN PROCESS
• Please take NOTES and ask any questions that you
  may have!
• Were going to go through the steps, from
  brainstorming to sketching to reworking final
  ideas!

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The Process!

• The same basic process is used to design
  EVERYTHING..it all has to do with
• CONCEPT
• the Idea what you want to do
• PROCESS
• the steps you go thru to create something
• CONTENT
• Does your final product fulfill what your
  original concept was?

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1 The CONCEPT

• This is YOUR BASIC IDEA
• Everything starts as an idea -- a gleam in the
  designer's eye.
• The concept is the most important part of the
  design process.
• The results are only as good as the ideas that
  originate them

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2 The PROCESS

• This is where you give form to your concept and
  the work gets done. This is the physical/action
  part of the design process.
• You can never tell what might happen along the
  way. Flexibility and pushing yourself are as
  important as artistic skills. Willingness to work
  until you are successful is an important
  attribute.
• The end result is the PRODUCT

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3 - CONTENT

• Only when the end result of the process meets the
  expectations of the concept is the project
  successful

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In class

• This project is planned so you will use all of
  the design steps to introduce you to this new
  process.
• In subsequent projects, all of the steps may not
  be used. But you will use SOME of them.
• The process is flexible enough to be used in
  almost any situation.

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To help you out -

• You have OPTIONS for this project.
• 1 - design a NEW logo for your favorite BRAND
  (Billabong, Nike, etc) make sure we havent
  seen it before and doesnt resemble something
  already out there.
• 2 - design a symbol for the SUN or the MOON.

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LOGOs

• Represents the brand
• Graphic, simple, eye catching
• MUST incorporate color
• Try to STAY AWAY from TEXT! Focus on the image!!

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SYMBOLs

• What is a SYMBOL?
• A SYMBOL is simple, clear and does not contain
  extraneous information (excessive detail, etc)
• It REPRESENTS what you imagine as the
  characteristics of that particular object or
  thing, maybe what it means to you.
• It can STAND FOR something, such as peace, love,
  etc.
• Viewer KNOWS what they are looking at and doesnt
  have to read into it too much

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Some symbols
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Symbols

• What is the difference between a SYMBOL and a
  PICTURE?
• A PICTURE contains detail, background, lots of
  information.
• It is realistic and may not have much
  personality or show certain characteristics of
  the object/thing

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SYMBOL vs PICTURE
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Sample Process
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Concept
Were going to use the SUN as our example

• BRAINSTORMING
• Start by making a list of words that describe
  the sun to you both physically and emotionally.
  Terms like hot, bright and round come easily to
  mind. The more words you list, the deeper you
  need to go into yourself.
• The best ideas are not always the most obvious.
  Keep your search centered on the sun, not on the
  beach or a sunny day.
• You are NOT making a symbol for a sunny day, so
  try to leave the environment out as much as
  possible.

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Concept

• Editing
• Your list will contain some terms that are more
  important than others. Go through the list and
  rate the words as most important, useful,
  useless, etc.. Establishing a hierarchy will help
  you make a more meaningful symbol
• Circle the words that you feel are going to help
  the most!

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Process

• THUMBNAIL SKETCHES
• These are SMALL, simple drawings
• You can fit 6 -10 of them on a piece of paper.
• It is important that they be drawn quickly since
  you want to record your ideas while they are
  fresh in your mind
• Do not make them detailed, finished sketches!!!
• Each image can suggest different versions of the
  same idea OR a new idea. You need to put them all
  down on paper as quick as you can in a
  stream-of-consciousness style.

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Your paper could look like this with your
thumbnails but you do not have to draw the boxes
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Process

• Typically, a series of thumbnails will start
  "fishing" for an idea with a series of mostly
  unrelated ideas.
• As you get into the process, you will find
  certain ideas that you like more than others.
• Take these ideas and modify and change them until
  you get some sketches that you really like and
  think you may want to use as your final idea.

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Process

• FORMATTING (composition)
• Decide which sketch you are most likely to
  develop and draw a rectangle around it.
• This is a lot like cropping in that you will
  decide how the image will fit onto the paper.
  Will it be more to the right, or left, or..?
• It will help you decide how large to make the
  image and where to put it on the page. Experiment
  with how the image will fit on the page in the
  thumbnail stage.

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COLOR

• Your thumbnails are the best place to experiment
  with value and color relationships. It is much
  faster to color in a thumbnail than a full size
  drawing.
• Choose color(s) for contrast and impact. In the
  case of the sun symbol the temperature of the
  color must be an important consideration.
• Keep color to a MINIMUM you can use TWO colors,
  max!

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Process

• ROUGHS
• The first full-sized sketches of the image are
  called roughs because they are just that
  rough!!!
• Think about COMPOSITION!
• The first rough is a sketch that enlarges the
  thumbnail to the full size youd like it to be.
  The image is then refined through a series of
  steps until all of the design problems are
  solved.

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Process

• REFINING the IMAGE
• Simply drawing the thumbnail larger is usually
  not enough. As the image gets larger it also must
  be refined. More information often needs to be
  added and some parts may need to be adjusted or
  reconsidered.
• This is where your ROUGHS come inyou are going
  to use them to modify and change your idea on a
  large scale.

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Process

• You are going to have at least TWO roughs ( one
  FINAL).
• Your 2nd rough will be DIFFERENT somehow from
  your 1st.
• You CAN do more roughs if you feel you need to
  modify more!!
• You then will again modify this rough and make
  changes and turn it into your FINAL.

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Content

• During all of the preceding operations it is
  important that the results of each step be
  checked against the concept, or original idea.
• You may need to make changes in the form to meet
  the expectations of the concept

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Lastly, CRAFTSMANSHIP

• Are there any extra marks, guide lines, smears,
  finger prints or dirty spots that can be erased
  to make the composition cleaner? Fix these!
• Is the sun symbol placed in the most appropriate
  place on the page? Is there too much space around
  the image making it look lost or unimportant?
  COMPOSITION!

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Your Assignment for this Week -

• Choose your option. Design!
• You are using black, white and max of THREE
  colors.
• SIZE - The finished product will be (at least)
  either 10 x 10 (square) or 6 x 10 (rectangle).
  Can be bigger.

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MATERIALS

• The sun symbol can be collaged out of
  construction paper or drawn with pen/marker and
  ink. It must be NEAT!
• NO colored pencils or paint or crayons. We want
  BOLD color here!

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What you need to DO and TURN IN

• 1 - At least ONE FULL PAGE of brainstorming WORDS
  describing the sun/moon
• At LEAST 15 words, but more is better
• Circle the words you feel are most helpful
• 2 - At least ONE FULL PAGE of thumbnail sketches
  exploring your possibilities
• This means 8 minimum a few should have color
  experiments!
• Put a BOX around the idea you feel you will
  useFORMAT ITNOT RANDOMLY!
• Concentrate on COMPOSITIONwhere will the image
  fit on the paper????

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• 3 - A full-size ROUGH, black white
• A first rendering of your favorite idea, large
  and full size
• 4 2nd Rough with visible changes from the 1st
  rough, with COLOR
• Change it in ways to make it more successful
• You may need more detail now that it is
  largertoo simple?
• 5 - FINAL PRODUCT
• Still different from your 2nd rough, NEAT AND
  FINAL IN COLOR

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Make sure

• All of the parts of the process for this project
  are completed AND TURNED IN, starting with the
  thumbnail sketches and including all of your
  rough drawings
• These will ALL be part of your grade
• I need to see all of the steps for you to get
  full credit (that means youll turn them ALL in,
  so SAVE THEM!)

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TODAY -

• 1 do your FULL PAGE of brainstorming.
• Write WORDS.min of 15, but more is better!
• Circle the best words that you think will help
  you
• 2 Start your thumbnail sketches
• Minimum of 8
• Use your words to help with your sketches!
• Some must have color experiments on them
• Choose your best sketch and FORMAT it
• 3 Start on your FIRST ROUGHonly black white
• Well review tomorrow ask me questions then!
• This WHOLE THING is due MONDAY so use your time
  wisely!!!!!!!

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Examples
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1
Formatting!
Final idea
This is a good series of thumbnail sketches. They
start by exploring many different ideas on the
first pages. On the last page the best idea is
elaborated on and formatted
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FINAL
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Not very many thumbnails here. Most of the image
development was done in larger formats.
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The sun as a spider crawling across the sky is
the inspiration for this symbol. The trick is to
make it look both like a menacing spider and a
symbol for the sun at the same time
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The red in this image is cut paper, the black is
ink. An interesting balance is achieved by
placing the "sun" off to the side and up slightly
and letting it creep into the composition. The
web's lines reinforce the sun-ness of the
image.
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This students thumbnails are all clever ideas
but he was not satisfied. After choosing the most
promising he went through an extensive refinement
process
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Three subtly different versions of the sun's face
and flames are drawn until he was satisfied with
the design.
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Final image. This sun has an attitude. There
is a lot of variety in the shapes and yet all of
the parts work together to make a harmonious
composition