Workshop Title: The Design Process

Learning Intention: To understand the cyclonic nature of the design process and how it aids creative, critical and reflective design thinking.

brainstorma method used to generate

ideas for problem solving.

thumbnailssmall images used to represent design ideas. Often produced

quickly when generating ideas.

annotationsrefers to written comments

made on the drawings or designs in a folio. Generally the comments are reflections and

evaluations on designs completed.

Figure 1.2

APPLYING THE DESIGN PROCESSThe design process is a way of dividing the creative work into stages to reach a design goal (figure 1.1). These stages are cyclonic in nature (figure 1.2), any step can be revisited at anytime during the design process.

The design process begins with a brief and ends in the production of a visual communication. Analysis, reflection and evaluation underpin the design process. These are not completed at a specific stage; rather they are ongoing

THE DESIGN PROCESS Designers, Engineers, Artists etc....initial ideas rarely solve a problem. Instead, they try different ideas, learn from their mistakes, and then try again. The steps these industries use to arrive at a solution is called the design process.

The design process is a great way to tackle almost any task. In fact, you use it each time you create something that didn’t exist before (e.g. planning an outing, cooking a meal, or choosing an outfit).

WHAT IS DESIGN?

and require creative, critical and reflective thinking. This is refereed to as “design thinking.”

The design process steps are documented in the students ACP project dairy.

design elements/principlesDesign Elements

The building blocks of design

Design PrinciplesHow the building blocks are

arranged and organised.

Figure 1.1

cyclonicrecurrent, recurring,

happening at regular intervals, regular, repeated, repetitive;

periodic, seasonal, circular

Point LineColour FormShape ToneTexture Type

Figure GroundBalance ContrastCropping ScaleProportion PatternHierarchy Emphasis

Its not about coming up with the “right idea”, it about generating the broadest

range of possibility.

AdvertisingCostume Design

Fine ArtIllustrationAnimationPublishing

Production designJewellery design

The Design Process in Professional Practice

THE DESIGN PROCESS STEPS2. RESEARCH

Research is the process of gathering information to assist in developing ideas. It is more than cutting and pasting imagery into the project dairy. The student needs to analyse and interpret their images through annotations to

determine and justify what is going to be useful as a

means for inspiration and a starting point for their design work. Research should broaden the knowledge of the student and influence how the product or outcome will

be developed.

3. GENERATION OF IDEASDuring this stage the

student applies the information and inspiration

gathered during their research. The student can work in many ways to generate ideas including brainstorms, thumb nail and concept sketches. These are not polished or redefined drawings and the annotations beside them assist in explaining the idea.

4. DEVELOPING IDEASAfter working quickly and mostly on a small scale the student then spends more time developing selected concepts. This stage of the design process involves design trials, the application of the designelements and principles, decision making and selecting concepts that suit the target audience and relates directly to the design brief/rubric.

5. REFINEMENT OF IDEAS/RESOLUTION

This stage involves the student editing, adapting and tweaking the final concept in response to feed back. The student now produce more sophisticated imagery and a final mock-up of the design solution is created. The mock up allows that student to test the final idea and the educator to see the final solution produced as close to the finishedproduct as possible.

Through the critical friends process a fully refined design will be produced that meets the requirements of the brief/ rubric.

1.BRIEF/RUBRICInitially at the commencement of the design process a brief is set. For our students there brief is the project requirements and rubric.

Industrial designInterior design

Exhibition designProduct design Graphic design

CartooningDrafting

Web design

Multimedia designArchitecture

Fashion designTextile designSignwritting

Furniture designVisual Merchandising

Desktop design

Developing Ideas

Refinement of Ideas

Generating Ideas