She said: The Design Process

by Lisa DeAngelo

When Mr. B gave Nick and I the word that it was our week to write blog entries, he suggested the two of us do a “he said/she said” series on our own design processes. Immediately, “that's what she said” jokes popped into my head. All kidding aside, the design process is a serious topic and it's something all graphic designers should be very familiar with. For the most part, we all go through the same basic steps but each of us has our own unique ways of getting there. In this case, “there” would be the finalized versions of our self promotional branding.

It all starts with a sketch. And then another sketch. And another... I find that this stage of the process is when my mind is all over the place in a good way. I try to to record as many ideas as I can, even if I know it most likely won't be the one that's chosen in the end. Most of the time, I find it easy to produce multiple sketches and concepts. For this project in particular, I filled 4 pages in my sketch book. As you can see, I did made an attempt at numbering thumbnails, but stopped. If you're really curious, you can count but try not to get lost in the organized chaos like I did!


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The next step is, of course, narrowing down your selection. A plethora of sketches normally boils down to five, three and finally one in the end. Depending on the project, it can be hard to “kill your babies” (a fun little phrase for rejecting ideas Pam Barby taught me). However, take comfort in knowing that your sketches will always have a special place in your sketch book. Many teachers have told me that some sketches may even come in handy for future projects. At the very least, I always like looking back at old sketches just for the hell of it.


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Then comes the refining process, which can be tedious at times. Seeing a polished, vectorized (or rasterized depending on what it is) manifestation of your idea is pretty awesome, though. When I'm at this stage, I get excited because it means I'm getting closer to the final version... and one of my favorite parts: exploring COLOR! Because this project was done for myself, I just had to feature my favorite color (lime green) in at least a couple color comps.


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So when everything seems to be said, done, printed and mounted, there's still more: the critique. Personally, this part of the process isn't always the most enjoyable but I think it's very important. We're communication arts majors, which means we need to know how to communicate. Talking about your art with confidence shows someone that you take pride in your work and you know what you're doing. No matter what, don't say anything negative about your own work. A very smart person once told me “never apologize for your art”. I sometimes struggle with this, but in general it's a terrible idea to diss your own stuff when presenting. The critique is when you “sell” your art to others and no salesperson with a brain would ever say something bad about their product. And for the people on the other side of things, please keep comments to constructive criticism only. It's not always guaranteed that a client will be this friendly, but for sheer respect of my fellow students, I always say constructive and helpful comments if I choose to say something.


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At the end of this project, I couldn't help but laugh at myself. Here I was, coming up with a billion sketches of varying detail, and one of the simplest solutions was my final product. Two circles with some text. Yes, really. Although circles are one of the most frequently used motifs in logo design, I felt they fit my personality well. I would describe myself as having a “bubbly” personality, and what better to represent that then with circles? Circles can also symbolize qualities such as focus, unity and wholeness. These qualities are ones I strive to have as a designer. I tried to make the shapes my own by knocking out some of it, creating an overall interesting shape. I go wild when I see the colors of my logo, too! The lime green pairs very well with the dark and light blue. To me, the scheme says “bold” and “fresh”, wouldn't you agree? That's what she said!