The ULTIMATE Poster Design Process

Summary

This video script emphasizes the critical role of a solid design process in harnessing creativity and achieving high-quality results. It outlines the importance of divergent and convergent thinking in solving design problems and introduces a four-phase design process: discovery, concept and design, visual artwork and design, and presenting poster designs. The process is designed to guide designers from a blank canvas to a compelling solution, ensuring every decision is informed and intentional.

Takeaways

• 🎨 **Design Process Importance**: A solid design process is crucial for harnessing creativity and achieving high-quality results.
• 🚀 **Avoid Arbitrary Designs**: Instead of jumping straight into creating, consider developing a thoughtful design process to improve work quality.
• 🤔 **Design as a Journey**: Design is not just about the end product but the process of solving problems and the journey taken.
• 🔍 **Research and Discovery**: A good design process includes steps for research, discovery, brainstorming, and sketching to answer complex questions.
• 🧠 **Thinking Processes**: Understanding divergent (thinking outwards) and convergent (thinking inwards) thinking is fundamental to the design process.
• 💡 **Divergent Thinking**: This is about expanding options, being open to all possibilities, and where imagination and creativity thrive.
• 📊 **Convergent Thinking**: This involves narrowing down possibilities, questioning, challenging, and consolidating ideas.
• 📝 **Design Process Checklist**: A checklist can help keep track of the design process, ensuring a structured approach to creativity.
• 📈 **Four Main Phases**: The design process consists of discovery, concept and design, visual artwork and design, and presenting poster designs.
• 📑 **Project Goals**: Understanding the project's goals, audience, and content requirements is the first step in the discovery phase.
• 🖌️ **Sketching and Artwork**: Sketching is key to generating ideas and creating a blueprint for the creative vision, followed by refining with software tools.

Q & A

Why is having a solid design process important for creativity?

A solid design process is crucial because it provides a roadmap from a blank canvas to a compelling and meaningful solution, ensuring that every decision made is informed, intentional, and aligned with the goals of the project.

What is the difference between design as a destination and design as a journey?

Design as a destination implies focusing solely on the end result, whereas design as a journey emphasizes the process of solving problems, which involves research, brainstorming, and development.

Why should designers avoid making arbitrary designs?

Arbitrary designs can be tiresome and uninspiring, and they don't always yield the best results. A thoughtful design process leads to more sophisticated and appropriate solutions.

What are the key steps included in a design process?

Key steps in a design process include research, discovery, development, brainstorming, sketching, and implementation to answer complex questions with sophisticated and appropriate answers.

What is the significance of divergent and convergent thinking in the design process?

Divergent thinking expands options and explores all possibilities, while convergent thinking narrows down and refines ideas. Both are essential for generating and refining creative solutions in design.

How does the design process help in solving complex design problems?

The design process helps by structuring the approach to problems, ensuring adequate research and brainstorming, and guiding the designer from concept to implementation.

What are the four main phases of the poster design process outlined in the script?

The four main phases of the poster design process are discovery, concept and design, visual artwork and design, and presenting the poster designs.

What is the purpose of the discovery phase in the design process?

The discovery phase aims to understand the project's goals, audience, and content requirements, and to gather inspiration for initial design thinking.

How does sketching designs in the concept and design phase contribute to the project?

Sketching designs helps generate a blueprint of the creative vision, identifying the strongest ideas that can be developed further.

What is the role of creative software in the visual artwork and design phase?

Creative software is used to bring design ideas to life, refine them, and finalize the design for the poster.

Why is presenting the final poster designs important?

Presenting the final poster designs is important to communicate the design solutions effectively to clients or team members, ensuring they understand the context and vision of the design.

Outlines

00:00

🎨 The Importance of a Design Process

The paragraph emphasizes the critical role of a design process in harnessing creativity and producing high-quality results. It contrasts amateur designers who might jump straight into creating without a plan with those who follow a structured approach. The design process is likened to a roadmap, guiding from a blank canvas to a meaningful solution. It involves steps for research, discovery, development, brainstorming, sketching, and implementation. The paragraph introduces the concept of divergent and convergent thinking, which are fundamental to the design process. Divergent thinking expands options and possibilities, while convergent thinking narrows them down. The speaker uses the analogy of a shower for divergent thinking and a funnel for convergent thinking. A design process checklist is mentioned, outlining four main phases: discovery, concept and design, visual artwork and design, and presenting poster designs.

05:03

🔍 The Poster Design Process

This paragraph delves into the specific steps of the poster design process outlined in the video. The first phase, discovery, involves understanding the project's goals, audience, and content. It includes visual research, creating focused mood boards, choosing typefaces, and reviewing poster grids. The second phase, concept and design, is about generating possible solutions through sketching. The third phase, visual artwork and design, involves using creative software to refine and finalize design ideas. The final phase, presenting poster designs, includes placing the design into in-situ mockups and creating a proposal deck. The paragraph concludes by stressing the importance of the design process in creating meaningful, impactful, and memorable designs that go beyond aesthetics to solve problems and engage with the audience.

Keywords

💡Design Process

The design process is a structured approach to solving design problems. It is the systematic method that guides a designer from a blank canvas to a meaningful solution. In the video, the design process is emphasized as the ultimate path to harnessing creativity and yielding high-quality results. It is likened to a roadmap that includes steps for research, brainstorming, sketching, and implementation to answer complex design challenges.

💡Creativity

Creativity in the context of the video refers to the use of imagination or original ideas to create something; it is a key component of the design process. The video suggests that a solid design process can help harness one's creativity, implying that creativity is not just about coming up with ideas but also about how those ideas are developed and refined into a final design.

💡Problem-solving

Problem-solving is central to the design process as discussed in the video. Design is presented not as an end goal but as a journey to solve problems. The process involves identifying a problem, researching, brainstorming, and creating solutions. The video stresses that design is an answer to a problem, highlighting the importance of problem-solving in the creative process.

💡Divergent Thinking

Divergent thinking is described in the video as a process of expanding options and being open to all possibilities and inspirations. It is associated with imagination and creativity. The video uses the metaphor of a shower to illustrate how divergent thinking can lead to a 'bigger spray of ideas,' which is crucial for generating a wide range of potential solutions in the design process.

💡Convergent Thinking

Convergent thinking, as explained in the video, is the process of narrowing down possibilities and consolidating ideas. It is the phase where a designer questions, challenges, and refines the ideas generated during divergent thinking. The video likens convergent thinking to a funnel, capturing and channeling creative ideas to identify the best potential solutions.

💡Inspiration

Inspiration in the video is mentioned as a driving force for initial design thinking. It is the spark that ignites the creative process, often derived from exploring the world around us. The video emphasizes the importance of seeking inspiration as part of the discovery phase in the design process.

💡Sketching

Sketching is highlighted in the video as a key step in the design process where designers generate the blueprint of their creative vision. It is a hands-on method of exploring composition and layout ideas, helping to identify the strongest concepts that can be developed further.

💡Typefaces

Typefaces are discussed in the context of choosing appropriate and relevant fonts for a poster design. The video mentions that typefaces play a significant role in the visual communication of a design, and selecting the right ones is a critical step in the discovery phase of the design process.

💡Mood Boards

Mood boards are mentioned as a tool for channeling inspiration and narrowing down the visual direction of a design. In the video, they are part of the focused step in the discovery phase, where设计师s compile visual elements that reflect the mood and style they wish to achieve in their design.

💡Implementation

Implementation is the phase where the design ideas are brought to life. The video describes it as a step in the design process where designers use creative software to develop, refine, and finalize their designs after the concept and design phase.

💡Proposal Document

A proposal document is mentioned in the video as the final presentation of the polished poster artwork. It is part of the last phase of the design process where the designer places the final designs into a document ready for presentation to clients or team members, showcasing the work in a professional and compelling manner.

Highlights

Design process is crucial for harnessing creativity and yielding high-quality results.

A solid design process is the ultimate path to solving problems effectively.

Design is a journey, not a destination, focusing on the process of problem-solving.

Amateur designers often dive straight into the end result without a structured approach.

Avoid arbitrary designs and consider a more thoughtful design process for better work quality.

A design process is a roadmap from a blank canvas to a compelling solution.

The design process includes steps for research, discovery, development, and implementation.

Design process is critical in driving innovation, relevance, and excellence in poster design.

Designers initially focus on a process of thinking outwards, then inwards.

JP Guilford's divergent and convergent thinking is fundamental to the design process.

Divergent thinking expands options and is open to all possibilities.

Convergent thinking contracts opinions and narrows down possibilities.

Divergent thinking is like a shower, creating a spray of ideas.

Convergent thought is like a funnel, channeling ideas to identify solutions.

A good designer balances divergent and convergent thinking processes.

The poster design process consists of four main phases: discovery, concept and design, visual artwork and design, and presentation.

In the discovery phase, understanding the project's goals and audience is crucial.

Visual research and inspiration help explore the world for creative sparks.

Focused mood boards help channel inspiration and narrow down visual direction.

Choosing appropriate typefaces is a key step in the design process.

Reviewing poster grids helps determine suitable layouts for design.

The concept and design phase involves sketching to generate creative solutions.

In the visual artwork and design phase, ideas are brought to life using creative software.

The final phase involves presenting the polished poster designs to clients or team members.

The design process ensures that every decision is informed, intentional, and aligned with goals.

Great design is a deliberate pursuit of solutions, not just random strokes of genius.

The design process aims for relevance, impact, and connection with the audience.

Transcripts

- So one of the most important parts

of your creative approach should always be

your design process.

And I can't emphasize that enough.

A solid design process is the ultimate path

to harnessing your creativity

and yielding high quality results.

Now, if you're watching this

and you don't currently have a design process you can

confidently lean on

and you are struggling to harness your creativity,

then this video is going to help you out.

So ultimately, design is an answer to a problem.

Design is not the destination, but the journey that is taken

and the process of what goes into solving problems.

When taking on a project,

amateur designers will sometimes dive straight into tackling

the end result, drawing from their head

or jumping onto the computer to artwork immediately,

making it up as they go along, or at worst,

following trends.

Now, this is not necessarily a bad thing,

and I've seen it happen a lot,

but taking this approach can be tiresome, uninspiring

and not always yield the best results.

As a designer, if you want to improve the quality

of your work, you'll want to avoid making arbitrary designs

and consider giving more thought to your design process

and endeavor to take steps

to develop the best creative solution.

So what is a design process?

Well, a design process is a roadmap

that guides us from a blank canvas to a compelling,

meaningful, and appropriate solution.

A design process will include steps

to ensure you undertake adequate research, discovery,

development, brainstorming, sketching,

and implementation to answer complex questions

with sophisticated and appropriate answers.

Just as in fashion, architecture,

product or web design,

the design process in poster design

is a critical element that drives innovation,

relevance, and excellence.

So in this video,

before we embark on our creative journey that goes

beyond aesthetics, we are first going

to delve into the poster design process

we will be following in this masterclass.

So let's get into it.

(soft music)

So when undertaking design projects,

a designer, knowingly or not,

will initially focus on a process

of thinking outwards,

leading to a process of thinking inwards.

Psychologist JP Guilford termed this process as divergent

and convergent thinking,

and it's this thinking process that is fundamental

to the design process.

Knowing and understanding it will be very helpful when

tackling complex design problems.

The term thinking outside the box is basically another term

for thinking divergently.

Divergent thinking is to expand your options,

think as open as possible,

and to be open to all possibilities and inspirations.

Imagination and creativity live in the realm

of divergent thinking.

So if divergent is to think outwards, well,

convergent is to think inwards.

Convergent thinking is to contract your opinions

and narrow down possibilities.

Convergent thinking is to question, challenge,

criticize and consolidate.

Discipline, logic, judgment and decisiveness

live in the realm of convergent thinking.

So it helps to think of divergent thinking like a shower.

The more discovery you undertake,

the more water source material is added.

The more connections you make will add to the pressure

to create a bigger spray of ideas which will reach further,

where ideas will become more conceptual and original.

Convergent thought is like the funnel

where we capture all the creative thinking

and ideas and channel them down

to identify the best potential solutions.

These two thinking processes go hand in hand

and will be required multiple times throughout

the course of a project.

Now, what makes a good designer is harnessing the power

of these two thinking processes and striking a good balance

and finding a good balance

will help generate results swiftly.

So here I have a printed design process checklist,

which puts this process of divergent

and convergent thinking into practice.

And I use this as a reference to keep me on track

and to harness the flow of creative thinking.

So here, the poster design process consists

of four main phases, discovery, concept and design,

visual artwork and design,

and present poster designs.

So first we have phase one, discovery.

In this first phase, we seek to understand key steps

to understand everything about project, the challenge,

and get inspiration to drive our initial design thinking.

This phase consists of four main steps.

Step one, review, design, brief and poster contents.

In this step, we seek to understand our project's goals,

the audience, and everything

that the poster needs to include.

Step two, visual research and inspiration.

In this step, we seek to explore the world around us

for sparks and creativity.

Step three, focused mood boards.

In this step, we channel our inspiration

and narrow down our visual direction.

Step four, choose typefaces.

In this step, we seek to look for appropriate

and relevant typefaces we all want to work with

for our poster design.

Step five, review poster grids.

In this step, we can review all the different types

of poster grids to see which ones would be

suitable for our design.

Next, we have phase two, concept and design.

Now, in the second phase,

after we have synthesized all the information we have

discovered and learned in the previous phase, it's then time

to start generating possible solutions

to solve the creative problem.

And this consists of one key step, sketching designs.

In this step, we seek to generate the blueprint

of our creative vision.

Here we do this by sketching composition layout ideas

to identify the strongest ideas we can take forward.

Next, we have phase three, visual artwork and design.

In the third phase, once we have spent

sufficient time generating ideas

and we are satisfied we have some good options in the bag,

we can then look to bring these

to life using creative software.

And this phase consists of one main step,

artwork and design.

In this step, we look to use creative software tools

to develop our design ideas, refine and finalize our design.

Finally, we have phase four, present poster designs.

In the last phase,

we will take our final polished poster artwork

and place it into a poster proposal document ready

to present to a client or team members.

And this phase consists of two steps.

Place poster design into in-situ visual examples.

In this step, we look to take our poster designs

and place them into in-situ mockups

to give the right context

to our poster designs, create a proposal deck.

In this step, we consolidate our file poster designs

and visuals ready for the world to see.

Here, we will place in our file designs

and mockups into a deck ready to propose

to a client or work colleagues.

If you want to take a closer look

and print out your own copy

of this poster design process checklist,

you can find it in the poster design ebook

that accompanies this poster design masterclass.

So then, why does this process matter?

Well, great design is rarely born from random

strokes of genius.

It's a deliberate pursuit of solutions.

It's about understanding a problem deeply

and responding with designs

that are not only beautiful,

but meaningful

and perfectly tailored to our target audience.

The design process ensures

that every decision we make is informed, intentional,

and aligned with our goals.

Keep in mind when we design, we're solving puzzles,

telling stories, and engaging with our audience.

on a profound level.

We are aiming for more than just good looks.

for more than just good looks.

We're striving for relevance, impact, and connection.

So this is the process we are going

to undertake in this masterclass.

how a structured design process can elevate our work

from good to unforgettable,

ensuring that every poster we create

is not just seen, but felt and remembered.

So let's now jump into the first step of the design process

and take a look at the creative challenge that lies ahead.

In the next video, we will be looking at the design brief.