As a designer, the prospect of facing a blank canvas in Photoshop can be incredibly daunting. It is your responsibility to create a visually stunning, impactful, and winning design for your client, yet the uncertainty of where to start can be overwhelming. Entering a project without a clear direction is a significant error, as it leaves you navigating in the dark. Even if you manage to produce a design that appears aesthetically pleasing, it is unlikely to be as effective or well-considered as one that is grounded in a robust design concept.
A concept serves as the foundation for any strong design. It is the core idea that informs all subsequent design decisions. Every element within your design should resonate with and reinforce this central concept. For this reason, the concept development phase is the most crucial aspect of the design process.
Consider a scenario where you are tasked with designing a website that embodies playfulness, fun, and imagination. To create a design that is exclusively based on these concepts, it is essential to ensure that every element of your design fully embodies and reflects “playfulness, fun, and imagination.”
When contemplating design elements, consider the following questions: Should any element on this site have a border? Borders can convey a sense of restriction, potentially undermining the imaginative aspect. Might elements be better if they seem to burst from their confines? What qualities make a line playful or engaging? Is a straight line playful? Hardly. Rounded or curved lines are often more inviting, while wavy, hand-drawn lines can further convey playfulness. What about lines that vary in width, or dashed or dotted lines? Which direction should these lines traverse? Upward movement is typically perceived as more optimistic and fun than downward, and diagonal lines tend to convey more energy than horizontal or vertical lines. These factors should be carefully considered when selecting lines for your design.
When it comes to shapes, how do you communicate fun and playfulness? Squares, triangles, stars, and hexagons all possess sharp edges and corners, whereas a circle has none. A sphere cannot cut you, and you naturally associate circles with objects like balls, which are linked to fun and playfulness. If circles cannot be used for all elements, consider keeping shapes as safe, playful, and fun as possible. Custom, curved shapes or rounded corners on rectangles and squares can be effective alternatives.
Value, or the tone and contrast of your work, is also a critical factor. For a design aiming to convey our concepts, it is best to maintain a light and bright tone. Dark colors often convey seriousness, professionalism, luxury, sadness, anger, and a range of other emotions, whereas light colors tend to evoke positivity, fun, happiness, and playfulness. For a project like this, I would prioritize a bright design with strong contrast for calls-to-action.
Color psychology plays a significant role in design. Based on the value we have determined, it is advisable to maintain a bright palette. Think about colors that make you happy and seem inviting. Bright yellow and blue remind you of the sun and the sky, while bright orange is cheerful, and yellow-green evokes spring and growth. Bright pink and purple, despite being somewhat associated with femininity, are increasingly popular as highlight colors for strong calls-to-action and convey a sense of playfulness.
Texture adds a physical quality to a surface and is becoming a popular trend in web design. When designing for a mobile app for children, texture can be particularly engaging. Texture can convey playfulness because play often involves touch, and people are curious about the feel of objects. If you are designing for a company that sells linens, using textures that convey fabric makes sense. Similarly, for a company that installs hardwood floors, using textures that appear to be wooden is appropriate. It is important to choose textures that align with the specific industry for which you are designing, ensuring that they fully support your desired concepts.
Size is a crucial element in any design. It is used to create interest, harmony, and unity among all design elements. For our specific concepts, imagine you need a strong call to action that really captures attention. While all elements of design contribute to this, size plays a significant role. If something dominates your screen visually, you will be drawn to it. Conversely, if something is very small but surrounded by whitespace, you will be equally drawn to it.
Understanding design elements is only part of the process. The second step is determining which concepts are most suitable for your particular client. You cannot develop a solution (or concepts) until you identify the problem. Before crafting a concept, you need to determine what the client is currently doing wrong in terms of branding, design, site goals, etc. But how do you do that?
Conduct thorough research on the brand and its industry. A deep understanding of your client and their competition is crucial for developing effective design solutions. What is the brand? Who are their customers? What is the overall objective of their business? What are their competitors doing? What is working for them? What is not? How can you improve upon what works for their competitors?
It is essential to meet with and talk with your client (in person if possible). Developing a strong, meaningful relationship with them is imperative. Understanding them on both a personal and business level is a key factor, as getting to know someone personally reveals much more about their business than they might reveal when discussing their business directly. Pay attention to the subtle details during your conversation, such as gestures, facial expressions, and off-the-cuff comments. These can spark creativity and inspiration for the designer.
After meeting with your client and asking the relevant questions, take some time to think and let ideas percolate. Sometimes, the best ideas come when you least expect them. For me, an important part of the process involves trying not to think about the design. I have found that great conceptualization often happens spontaneously when the time is right.
A basic list of guidelines I consciously go through when considering any design includes:
– Consider your client’s goals in their purest form.
– Understand what the company sells or creates.
– Determine what the company does at its core, without any unnecessary fluff.
– Identify the company’s core values and eliminate any non-essential elements.
– Analyze how these values and ideals translate into design concepts.
– Examine your competitors’ strategies and identify what is and isn’t working.
– Define the end goals of the website.
– Consider how the values, considerations, and goals relate to your design concepts.
– Determine how to effectively achieve the site’s goals through design.
This process can be time-consuming, but it is essential. Understanding a new brand is not always easy, especially when working with numerous clients daily. However, having a system to work within can be beneficial for both you and your clients.
To create successful designs, it is crucial to:
– Understand the concept thoroughly.
– Grasp the design elements and ensure they effectively support your concept.
– Gain a deep understanding of your client through personal and business-level interactions.
– Begin with the concept and ensure that every element reinforces it.
– Be cautious of design trends and focus on creating solutions that genuinely support your client’s goals.
– Remain persistent and flexible, allowing ideas to develop and evolve naturally.
In conclusion, great design is not something that can be forced; it requires time, effort, and a deep understanding of the brand and its target audience.
