Your Creative Process ??

[Mattysteven]

Just wondered how other people who have more experience than me work.
Have a few questions which i've always wanted to ask other graphic designers.

When your given a brief what do you do first before anything else ?

Where do your ideas come from ?

Do you work alone?

If you work within an organisation do other people get involved at different stages of a brief or are briefs just given to one person to work on they're own?

What sort of timescales are involved within an organisation?

Do you do this as a hobby or does your work get paid for ?

Is each design you do unique or mass produced ?

I'm currently at college so very new to the whole process.

[Katedesign]

Very quick answers - I'm about to go home (7pm)

1) I let the brief sit in my head for a while - depending on urgency. Then I try and doodle ideas on paper - if there's time or else plunge straight in on the computer.

2) Who knows. . . something seen somewhere, sometime. . . forgotten. Sometimes the client has an idea or knows exactly what they want (they think)

3) I do at the moment - I'm the only designer in our own small firm

4) I have two sales people who get/give the brief - and I handle clients myself.

5) Varies with the project - sometimes a day, sometimes a couple of hours, sometimes a week, rarely more. Business cards (for example) I often do in a couple of hours.

6) Supposedly the work gets paid for!

7) Hopefully each is unique. . . but occasionally I 'reuse' an idea - but change it a bit. . .

Have to go and cook dinner now! Hope this has been of help/interest.

[Mattysteven]

Massive help :) thanks.

First answer was interesting. If you have to jump straight onto the computer do you think your work is a lesser quality than if you have time to experiment in a sketchbook ?

In my college class one of the things they try to drum into us is how important it is to do your planning and work with your ideas in your sketchbook before you produce any designs on the computer.

Would be good to get a few more replies to see how others work

[Mercy Design]

First thing first- you're as in YOU ARE given a brief. Not your, that means something that belongs to you. Please learn the difference because you will loose vital marks in YOUR course work.

1. Time scale's always important when working on a brief although your lecturers have taught you well- planning is absolutely vita. However, a well stocked sketch book will really help the planning process as there may just be an idea that you've been dying to add to a project. That should also answer question 2, as well as museums, galleries, (whisper it) other people's work.

It's also important to ensure that your 'brief' is solid- make sure you know who the client is and you know exactly what they want- we often spend a good few days hammering out a concrete brief before it's creatively worked on.

3. we work as part of a small team- 2 art directors and the odd freelancer is the job needs it & we tend to all work together on every brief. Saying that, it's time for us to expand and we'll be looking for 2 new designers later this year.

4. Timescale is dependent on job size- for example, we've just spent a week sorting out a very unclear brief for a project that took 2 days to complete. Then again, we're still at the briefing stage for another project that's been in the pipeline for a month now.

5. yep- we get paid for what we do- not a lot but enough.

6. Our designs are completely unique, which is why I get mighty upset when people are able to offer a logo for £50. Have a look here Mercy : Design Agency, Literature & Arts Collective : London / Liverpool : UK

Hope that helps. Good luck with the course.

Gemma
Mercy : Design Agency, Literature & Arts Collective : London / Liverpool : UK