Design plays a pivotal part in grabbing a person’s attention in any industry. Whether you’re promoting a product or trying to educate an audience on a specific topic, the design you use is in most cases the deciding factor that provokes a closer look from your audience. So how do you create or select the perfect design?

Well for starters, you must acknowledge that the path to the design isn’t linear but rather it is a well-informed creative journey that delivers the perfect design solution. There are outlines available to aid the process but expect to move between phases, reevaluate decisions, invest time, and ultimately create something unique and beautiful.

So, what is the Design Journey?

Nick Chiechi, Creative Director at CS Designworks, explains the Design Journey “as a process, methodical and purposeful.” It is creative and unrestricted but also well-informed and collaborative. The design journey requires planned research, analysis, reporting and of course the creative eye.

The four phases of the Design Journey:

Phase 1: Discovery

Discovery is all about doing your due diligence. Here you will glean key information about the client or specific assignment. You can take the research a step further and conduct a competitive analysis of existing products and businesses so as to distinguish your ideas from the masses. Keep in mind, the more diligent you are here the better you will be equipped for “design” success because the discovery phase builds the roadmap to the subsequent steps in the Design Journey.

Phase 2: The Creative

Curiosity may have killed the cat but will be your guiding principle in creative exploration.

The creative process involves utilizing the information you learned through discovery to create designs that effectively communicate and resonate with your audience. The creative process can sometimes be spontaneous as it taps into your subconscious mind and produces a solution when and where you least expect it. So, just trust the process and be prepared to shuffle a variety of ideas. Like a funnel, a good creative approach starts broadly and narrows as clarity reveals itself.

Phase 3: Execution

Now the fun begins, not to say the previous two phases weren’t fun but here the funnel is getting slimmer, and you are prepared with the research and creative ideas to really start bringing the design to life. Here you have the option to explore various visual items like manuscript, color, space, and typography to add personality to the design. You might need to collaborate more with your client and reflect on your preliminary thoughts as you flesh out the design but embrace the evolving journey and eventually you will arrive at the aha. The more inclusive you are, the better the outcome will be and the more comfortable you’ll feel sharing the co-ownership of the design and process with your client.

Phase 4: Delivery

The last phase of the Design Journey is delivery. No surprises here, just meticulous assembly of all of the components required for the assignment. Delivery is like handing the keys to a new car to a new customer. Ensuring satisfaction and cultivating a true partnership.

Bottomline, regardless of what you decide or the path you choose, just keep in mind that the design journey is often not linear, and the process involves being prepared to explore all ideas, even the seemingly bad ones. You never know what might spark your creativity and lead to that perfect design solution.

CS Designworks delivers high-impact design solutions to clients of all sizes for over 25 years, which in itself, attests to the importance of embracing the design journey.