Design Process

Ok. So what are you thinking? What do you want to do or what do you want to achieve or what do you want to change or what do you want to create? A first good step, is to write all of this down, even if it starts with just a word. Once you record that word or words or phrases of ideas (in your journal), you have made a mark and it is a start of an incredible adventure. Now put your idea under intense investigation. What does that word mean? What does it mean in the dictionary, to your friend, to your relatives, to your community, to the world? Write all of that down. Do you agree? Do you want that word to, in some measure, possibly mean something else? Good! You have the makings of a designer. Start constructing new meanings of that word. Come up with ideas about what that word could mean, and what its world could look like.

Now that you have come up with some ideas, investigated those ideas, and further determined some objectives to accomplish your goals, let’s look at expanding our five-step project into a design process checklist to see where feedback comes in to play. Check off the tasks that you have completed and get started on your next step!

identify - areas of potential work

intend – identification of a set of needs, directions, activities, goals, objectives

define – research and gathering of information to inform direction

conceptualize – addressing objectives

strategize - modes of achieving goals

explore – conceptualize approaches

plan – iterative development of concept(s)

produce – prototyping and construction of alternatives

evaluate – quality assessment and testing

integrate – delivery and feedback from user

Make a diagram of the design process each time you design something. Collecting these will give you good ideas for what parts of the process remain the same and what parts of the process are always different! Diagram Design Process.

A next necessary step is defining where your project will take place. Is your project in your own community? Is it a prototypical project that could exist in other places? This is called defining the ‘scope’ of a project. Where a project will exist determines a lot about a process.

Finally, now that you are becoming an experienced designer, it is important to note that each time you start a new project, it is very, very important to document your process. This means that during a project, it is very important to record and save every idea, sketch, model, drawing, feedback, phone call, etc. The design process is not linear - it often stops going forward in one direction and backtracks to an earlier point of development! Documenting a design process is also very important because usually you need to show and communicate your process to others. Documenting your design process can best be done by collecting everything in one area. Digitally record each item and keep back-ups of the digital records. Designers often publish a book of their process, create a digital presentation or even a movie. A documentation of a process is important because there will be times you cannot present your work in person, but your digital file can.

• A design process is linear.
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• Iterative means making multiple studies or solutions.
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• A design process involves gathering and recording information.
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• Prototypes are models made for testing and evaluation.
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• Feedback is a critical part of a design process.
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