The owner of IA Collaborative gave a talk for the AIGA on July 20, 2004. It’s a designer firm that strongly emphasizes designers doing research. Their designer go rock climbing when designing a new watch, visit Wrigley Field when doing their collateral.
Someone asked if they do research on every project, and how they can afford such luxuries. He explained that doing research up front actually saves time during the design time at the computer, because the designer is actually doing their design while on the field researching.
He drew a diagram on the board showing how the process works. As you do experience design (on the field work with the product), you get evaluative research (being able to discern what works and what doesn’t work). As you do these two forms of research, you are actually designing, because you are taking in elements, thinking and feeling. So when you site down to work and design, you already have that base evaluative experience.
Having someone else do the research and just hand it off to the designer, doesn’t give the designer the investment in the research and what you are trying to achieve.
The amazing thing is that he just whipped this diagram out. It all makes sense to experience the project first before designing, but to put it in this triangle form took some good visualization skills.
was this an open talk, or did you have to be invited or part of a group? i want to go to stuff like this.
This was part of series of talks under the AIGA group. I think it’s open to non-members. But you have to pay to go. It’s something like $15 for members, and $20 for nonmembers. People at work often sign up but then don’t go. So if we have an open spot sometime, i’ll let you know. The next talk is Tuesday, September 14, 6:00-8:00 PM Featuring: Z nPartners http://www.zunpartners.com 326 W. Chicago Avenue, Chicago Here are the current events for the AIGA: http://www.aigachicago.org/events/currentevents/current.html
My website has been getting a bunch of comment spam lately. I accidentally deleted the following comment, which was a real comment: From: Mike Well, I think there’s some truth in that. Creativity seems to be boosted when you leave your day-to-day office environment. I work in the IT industry. In the design phase of a project we sometimes choose to go outside (e.g. our central park here in the city or on top of our castle hill) rather to sit in a dull conference room. Depending on the weather, of course. Or go hiking in the mountains with the team… it helps to relax.
you are my friend, animated gif. i like how you put it against a yellow background. it makes it look even more like a sketch on a notepad. research is such a valuable key that gets lost in the process of print design. how can you communicate something efficiently if you do not have efficient knowledge about your message. It is vital to successful graphic design. Otherwise you are guessing what will work. The question really becomes what amount of research is sufficient in developing a successful piece of communication. The answer is not static. It will vary from job to job. It’s unfortunate when clients don’t value the knowledge of designer developing their material. This all too often leads to par or subpar design. All that I’m saying is common sense. Maybe I will delete this entry. I don’t have any fancy animated gifs to show. Ah, screw it. I’m hitting the Submit button now.
the yellow background is there, because I doodled this on a yellow stickie note. But the gray arrows were photoshopped in later. (it didn’t make much sense without the arrows). yeah, it sucks when people think designers are there just to make things look pretty. Uh hello. There’s a lot more thought that goes into your pieces. Branding, evocative feelings, history, technical aspects, marketing strategies, etc.
I saw that presentation. I think you got the diagram wrong, but the basic idea is right. The owner was Dan Kraemer (sp?) of IA Collaborative. He was the best speaker IMHO, because the work was both smart and cool. It’s about time design firms started to think beyond just cool. The event was good, I’ll go again next year.
John, did you go to the presenation at Z n Partners on Tuesday, Sept 14th? It was a nice informal presentation. But it seemed the IA Collaborative was more insightful.