The key to being a successful as a Freelance Graphic Designer is to develop your very own design process. In this blog post I will be discussing my step-by-step design process whenever I work on a project for a client.
· The Discovery Meeting with the Client
· Research for inspiration
· Idea Web
· Sketching in my Sketchbook
· Start designing on the computer
The Discovery Meeting with the Client:
The First step in my design process is to have a discovery meeting with the client which involves setting up a time that works with both my schedule and the client’s schedule to discuss the type of graphic design services they are looking for, the time frame for the project’s completion, the cost of the service the client is requesting, the information that I require from the client in order to complete the project such as (company name, company colors, any text, contact information for the company the size/ detentions of the project). However given the current times we are in with the whole social distancing. I set up a time to either do a video call (Zoom, Face Time Skype) or a regular phone call.
Research for Inspiration
I don’t know about you but as a creative individual some of my best work is created when I am in a creative flow state. So doing research is a very essential part of my creative process. It’s a well-known fact that every artist, graphic designer, or creative person in general has his or her own way of inspiration. For me inspiration can come in the form of watching a video, going for a walk in the neighborhood where I live, spending time in nature, listening to a podcast, meditation and listening to music.
Creating an Idea Web
Is the next step I take in my graphic design process, the reason being is that I consider myself an “Idea Guy”. What do I mean by that? You may be thinking.
Well to sum it all up from the time I was studying, and getting my Bachelor degree in Graphic to the time I graduated and started freelancing I developed the my ability to come up with multiple ideas when it comes to being working on a design project so I can explore as many creative possibilities and solutions to my client’s problems. Moreover as a Freelance Graphic Designer I want make sure that I present my clients with as many options as I can. That way my clients can witness the full extent of my design expertise. In other words by creating an idea web I can get all my ideas on paper, organize my thoughts in creative way and creating an idea web adds a sense of visual structure to my design process. To give you a visual idea of what my idea web might look like, I would start with the first word that comes to mind after I learned about my client’s company from the discovery meeting then add to that word, phrase, or specific company value.
Sketch Ideas in a Sketchbook
After creating an idea web, the following step in my design process is to start sketching as many ideas in my sketchbook as possible. By sketching in my sketchbook, I am create simple thumb nails to see how certain ideas work visually before I go to my computer and start designing. In addition sketching my ideas down on paper serves as a road map for how the project design will come together in the long run.
Start Designing on the Computer
Once I have settled on a idea that I think works for the design project I am working on, I head straight to the computer and start designing. In my design process I take what I sketched in the sketching phase and then bring it to life visually on the computer. When I am designing on the computer, I test out different graphic design techniques and sometimes depending on the complexity of the project scope I may even use more than one Graphic Design software platform such as Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator and Adobe InDesign at the same time. The reason why is because I may need to edit an image in Photoshop then import the image into InDesign and maybe add some vector graphics from Adobe Illustrator.
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