The Graphic Design Process

Keyboard Shortcuts for PS: https://fixthephoto.com/photoshop-keyboard-shortcuts.html

Problem/Brief

• If you’ve been give a brief, then make sure you read it well]
• Otherwise, make sure you really understand the problem. Ask questions and look at it from various perspectives.

Idea Generation

• Brainstorm, mindmap or moodboard some preliminary ideas – https://www.creativebloq.com/graphic-design-tips/tips-brainstorming-inspiration-12359-10
• Affinity mapping –
• https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/article/ideation-for-design-preparing-for-the-design-race#:~:text=Ideation%20is%20easy%20to%20define,%2C%20visual%2C%20concrete%20or%20abstract.&text=Creating%20ideas%20is%20the%20main,as%20you%20can%20see%20here.
• https://www.designbetter.co/design-thinking/ideate
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ideation_(creative_process)

Concepts

• Sketch out some rough ideas. Crazy 8s is a good way to do this – https://designsprintkit.withgoogle.com/methodology/phase3-sketch/crazy-8s
  Set a timer for either 1 minute, and draw a rough sketch for one idea, use a different idea for each minute. Repeat the process at least 8 times. The purpose of the exercise is to generate a variety of ideas in a short amount of times. Think of it as visual brainstorming, there are no bad sketches at this stage! https://designsprintkit.withgoogle.com/methodology/phase3-sketch/crazy-eights

Developments

• Pick the top 3 concepts and develop them so more. Developing means expanding on the concept and fleshing it out. This can either be by hand or in software, depending on what you’re more comfortable with.
• This generally includes: adding in some colours, possible typeface choices and hierachy.

Feedback/Testing

• Pick some people who you can approach for feedback on your design. You can either tell them what the project is, and see if they think that it meets the brief, or you can ask them what they think the project is about.
• Either way, feedback/testing is about you trying to see if you’ve met the requirements of the brief, or if you need to make more changes.

Refinements

• Based on your feedback, you will likely need to make some changes or tweaks to your design.
• Refinements are usually smaller changes – like tweaking the colours, positioning and copy etc, there shouldn’t be huge changes here.
• If there are suggestions for huge changes at this point, you may be better off heading back to your developments and picking a different direction.

Finals

• This is the point where you want to be checking the final design – ensuring spelling, alignment, file details etc are all correct.
• This is also where you prep the file for print/export – ensuring that you have RGB colour space for web/CMYK for print, that you’ve got the right dimensions, that the client is happy with the final version etc etc.

Note:
The Graphic Design, Web Design and UX/UI Design processes are very similar. If you’re interested, here are some other examples:

UX/UI Process: https://xd.adobe.com/ideas/process/user-research/ux-research-process-product-design/