Designing with Purpose
Do you remember the days before devices navigated for you, prior to Waze? If you were going somewhere new, you would need a map to get you to your destination. I can recall looking over the Thomas Guide as a child and watching my parents carefully plot out the best way to get to our target. Sadly, most don’t even know what a Thomas Guide is anymore and planning a trip is no longer a purposeful journey. I feel the same way about design. Here are some tips to create with purpose.
- Research- I used to love doing research projects in school. Going to the library, checking out books, sitting down late at night and learning stories and getting perspective from so many sources. The idea of research has become dumbed down since the advent of the internet and wikipedia. I still love the library and bookstores. With a book you can pick it up, hold it, and smell the pages (I love the smell of a good book). It gets your senses going and it’s a tactile experience. I think if you are wanting to write a book, get out of your house and away from your beloved electronic device. If you want to write the next “Twilight” or a children’s story that Roald Dahl would put his stamp of approval on, spend time with those books. Read and reread until you are in the imaginative headspace required to create.
- Mind Map- If you’re going somewhere, you need to know how to get there. Get a notebook, use a whiteboard or just write on the wall your destination/objective. Now I know most of you will go straight to your trusty iPad or Laptop, don’t! Writing down your thoughts/objectives is SO IMPORTANT!!! Yes, I’m the one in all the meetings with a pad of paper as my colleagues are clacking away on their devices. After you write down your destination, circle it. Then begin to add branches to the circle of all the things your objective triggers in your mind. Let’s say I want to write a book about my pug, Crystal. I will write her name down, and begin to add attributes about her. As you begin to write these items, they will trigger other things in your mind. You will be surprised at where your mind journey will go.
- Create a Pinterest Board- Mood boards are a great way of getting into the proper headspace for creating. Here is where I think Pinterest is a useful tool. This is one of the only things I do that isn’t tactile. Pinterest is wonderful when it comes to a conception of a mood/feeling you want the audience to perceive. You want to pen a novel that takes place in 1920? Type in 1920 fashion, art etc. in search bar and see where it takes you. This is where you will get a good selection of fonts, colors and art that is reminiscent of that era.
- Organize and Experiment- You have now done your due diligence and explored all angles of where you want your work to go. Now it’s time to put it together and begin to experiment. I like to open Adobe Illustrator and begin to sample fonts, colors, illustrations and layouts. Now you don’t have to use a program to experiment. A pad of paper and markers are sufficient enough. Just do multiple mock-ups until you feel you are in a good place to receive critiques.
- Critique- This is the last step in the process and sometimes the most difficult. Here you are presenting your baby, your pride and joy, to someone who has no idea of the blood, sweat and coffee that went in to it. First things first, NEVER take this critique personally. It is meant to better you and help you gain another perspective. But, that being said, make sure the person is a trusted colleague whose opinion is valid and they are trying to bring the best out of you.
People are so concerned with the end product, they don’t even take the time to develop ideas fully. This results in a product that is cold, stale and without intent. It’s certainly a challenge in today’s culture of go go go, to nurture an idea to its full potential. I want to change this mentality. As a designer or creative, let’s strive to not rush to the finish line. Let’s take the time to create something that is full of purpose and that we can all be proud to attach our name to.
Laurie Ormonde
Graphic Designer
This article was originally published on November 4, 2019.
