Design Manifesto

DESIGN PROCESS

 “A picture is something between a thing and a thought”— Arthur Symons

I think this quote by Arthur Symons epitomizes the design process: It starts with an idea, a thought, a concept or maybe even an image in my head, but translating that to a drawing on paper is difficult in itself. Then, translating that drawing into the actual thing is another layer, and sometimes the end product becomes very different than the initial “idea”. It’s definitely a process. To be able to successfully design though, I think you have to master all three parts of this process to a certain degree.

A strong concept and initial idea can be lost in a poor drawing, and alternately, a weak or flawed concept can win over a client or group of fellow designers with a strong drawing; Drawings can be misleading. These same things happen when I have an amazing idea or image in my head, sometimes I can draw it out perfectly, but then following through with the design off of the paper is a completely different story. Or other times the drawing does not translate but I am able to follow through without it anyway.

Most modern designers draw out designs using computer programming and then somebody else entirely constructs the design, they come up with the idea and then somebody else has to execute it. These “instructional drawings” can be misinterpreted or have unforeseen errors or a lack of clarity. This seems like a scary concept with my very limited design experience, at what point does it become someone else’s design?

After just one semester we have learned to appreciate “craft” that goes into design and we have practiced free hand drawing. I feel like both of these are somewhat of a dying art in designers learning today, and yet they are both so important. Appreciating the hands on work is definitely key, but also just experimentation in both of these lead to completely different and, maybe better, end products. The art of crafting pushes us to find out what materials are capable of though trial and error. Drawing by hand has advantages in many ways too, you can just free yourself, let loose and be fantastical...

For me personally it’s always a long process and it involves a lot of anxiety, a lot of searching for something better. I usually come back to something close to my original idea, but I refine it and polish it up. I have random a-ha! Moments and it will suddenly all make sense. I just have to remember it’s okay to change and transform an idea that I’m so attached to. I have high anxiety and I'm usually under the impression that whatever I come up with won't be good enough, and while this puts a lot of pressure on myself, it also pushes me to always do my best.