I thought it might be helpful to share a discussion I've had in recent days with designers out there that have plenty of resources for the nuts and bolts of web design, but might have trouble finding resources on process.
The following is an interview conducted by Kelly Norton, a student at MIT's Media Lab. For a "Media Studies" class taught by Henry Jenkins, he was given the assignment to interview a media producer about the assumptions that shape his/her design decisions.
Update:
Kelly has posted
his report from the interview. You might be interested in hearing his thoughts.
What are the various forms of media that you have used throughout your career? How do they interplay in your work? Are some forms subordinate to others?
I've worked in/with film, video, photography, painting, music, web design, collage, chemistry, architecture, fine art, graphic design, print making, and I am a decent chef too. I have found myself to be visual and spatial mostly. I currently sit most comfortably with photography, film, and interactive design. I say currently because that may shift, or has had a history of shifting. Photography comes the easiest, but I really enjoy problem solving, so interactive design is quite engaging.
Are there any styles, theories or schools of thought to which you feel a particular allegiance?
I would first like to give a shout out to capitalism.
I have a small commitment to design methodology which I suspect comes a little from working in architectural design, where the problem space is very large due to the amount of constraints and concerns you're dealing with. Methodology helps add stickiness to all those things.
I like that design disciplines cross-pollinate one another. How you approach design concerns in one medium can inform how you handle similar concerns in another medium. That's why it is very important for me to gain experience in a very wide range of things. Some might think it leads to being a jack of all trades. I have a subtle confidence that it will lead to a greater understanding of different creative disciplines. What you do with that, I just don't know yet. My relationship on a personal level with various mediums is cyclic. I'll return to pick up photography after working in architecture for some time with a new perspective and insight that makes my photography better.
The Design Process
To simplify this exercise, let us focus on a particular project of yours. Preferably one that was created using a process that you feel is representative of your approach. Give a brief description of the project. What were the primary goals for the project?
The project was to design a company identity for a furniture designer, and then execute the brand over multiple marketing fronts including business cards, stationery, brochures, photography, larger format posters for ICFF and a website featuring their collection. The designer had seven furniture designs that he wanted to market, in addition to promoting his custom design services.
Soorikain Furniture
What distinct properties of each of the forms of media used allow you to meet your goals?
Marketing mostly. The thickness of the business cards and quality of printing speak to the quality of the furniture. We worked with local printer Thomas and Bohannon, who did an excellent job on their cards. Photographs of the pieces communicate warmth to the viewer. They also show the work from many perspectives. The website allows people to interact with the brand, read about the company, explore its products. We did some animations that showed how some of the furniture worked (1 , 2 , look above "available finishes"). We fashioned the brochures like billboard messaging – quick reads that leapfrog you to the website. My brother Aaron developed a color palette that was full of energy and vitality.
What was your target audience and what kinds of constraints did it impose?
The target audience was interior designers, retailers, architects, and individuals who subscribe to Dwell, Design Within Reach, and Metropolis. Because we could identify with this market base personally, I think it made it easier on us. Designing for one's own tastes is second nature. Because we knew interior designers and architects would need to spec out furniture to their clients, the information tear-sheets on the website for each piece needed to be very detailed, with dimensions and available finishes.
What other considerations were central to the development of the design?
The brand colors had to shift seamlessly through four-color processing, offset printing, and digital display. That was a big concern. We spent a lot of time studying how light played upon various swatches of color, and playing with monitor display settings.
The primary aim of the website was to get visitors to the furniture display pages. We wanted the homepage to imitate a design magazine and feature a random piece of furniture each time one visits. Sort of like a cover design that enticed readers to look inside. It was determined that the target audience also had children, so we thought that the images we used should mirror their lifestyle (1, 2). I thought it was smart to show people interacting with the furniture pieces. I think this added a realness to the furniture - as if they were not only attractive and well-crafted pieces, but very functional, everyday objects for your home. This was at the heart of what the Soorikians wanted to create through their work. We used the Soorikians’ kids as our models, which gave great results.
Matt Soorikian had a love for Blue Note album covers. We did a lot of research in this arena. I think it inspired the primary colors and large, bold type for the logo identity. We explored type selections, color, and image in 3 separate explorations, then began to bring various combinations together. With feedback and review, we further developed the brand logo and mark. Then we executed it in various media. In it’s most simple form, the process would look like this: explore > brand < execute brand.
I like your ideas about touching a lot of domains not to necessarily become a player in each domain, but to inform your work regardless of medium. Let me ask you a few follow up questions on that specificially. Can you give me some specific examples from your work where models and/or concepts from one domain were employed in another? Obviously, there is no need to constrain this to the Soorikian project.
I have 4 examples..
One initial concept for a studio for a client of ours that does film titles, was based on the layering of materials of various transparencies. This was derived from the tools they use to produce their own work: software that "layers" motion graphics, film and soundtrack on top of each other.
In an architecture studio class, I used the metaphor of the chrysalis as the guiding concept in a project
involving renovating Blood and Fire Ministries, a non-profit org that provides shelter, community and spiritual awakening to Atlanta's inner city poor. This "change" metaphor was used to generate forms. During my studies I collected science textbook graphics of the metamorphic process. The concept of change/the chrysalis was used again when I produced a series of flyers for an Atlanta promotion company. Each flyer focused on the change they were trying to create within the dj scene. I used much of the graphics I collected from my first exploration during the architecture project, in the visual flyers.
Lightroom studio, designed by my partner Bill Carpenter has a large window that acts as a framing device for the neighboring building (photography) and on the opposite wall is a window which frames the event of the train passing (film).
In designing the Square Feet Studio's color palette, we examined the colors found in the materials of adaptive reuse building projects. Brick, old timbers, copper patina, tar. Aaron named each color after the material that inspire it.
One of the things I find interesting is that your concept of work, tends to stand apart from media entirely. Do you think there are some comon, core elements at the core of each medium? What things come to mind?
Hmmm. I'll answer this one by saying yes, I believe there are core elements. I think each medium is made unique by the combination and arrangement of constraints and concerns within each medium's "problem space". Some concerns overlap like electrons between neighboring atoms. For instance composition is in play in both photography and graphic design and architecture.
In the Soorikian project, you mentioned that the color palette was constrained by four-color process. This seems a case where one medium constrains the others involved. In your work, how common are these cross-medium constraints? Do you have other examples?
Great question. I can't think of another example.
Audience
In general, how do you determine target audience? In the case of the Soorikian project, it seemed as if you had a good idea from its onset. Was there any process to attempt to re-define or expand the audience? In projects where the audience is not as clear, what methods or strategies do you use to determine your audience?
We have a questionnaire we give our clients that deals with their business/personal goals, target market, etc. We composed some of the questions while others were derived from books we've read. We primarily rely on the client to communicate their audience/market to us. We are a small, young shop at the moment. I hope to provide more thorough marketing strategies for our clients in the future that would include audience and market analysis, but we are not there yet.
Identity
One of the things that never occurred to me is how design of identity often stives to setup an aesthetic link between the audience and the entity the design artifact represents.
I even like how an identity system can relate to other logos in form, color and type, to evoke an alliance to the values already found in another brand. I like how graphic design can be self-referential like that.
In architecture, the structure communicates its use and typically apeals to an audience who understands and appreciates that particular use. In the case of Soorikian, Matt's love for Blue Note album covers is reflected in the design which is logically related to the aesthetics that goes into their furniture. I have always tended to think more in terms of only appealing to a select target audience, but it seems as if you are hinting at a process where the designer is bridging client (for lack of a better word) and audience more than just working along side the client to present something to an audience. Is that a fair deduction on my part? What corrections would you make in that statement?
Yes, bridging is a good word. You make it sound so appealing. It's about communicating in the end.
Another example: We recently helped develop a name and identity system for a friend of ours who is a php programmer, who also loves racing bmws and porsches. His audience was creative directors needing a back-end mercenary. He was essentially a ghost in the machine. The name was simple, "Brand New Engine". It fit well with his economic function, lifestyle, and was easy to tell people over the phone without having to spell it (one of his pet peeves).
It depends on the client though. Much of the time we use a collaborative process. Sometime we just act as a catalyst by bringing clarity to their existing vision and identity.
Other times we produce a product, and the client goes okay that's perfect, thanks. As if we output design like a baker makes muffins. Which I guess is what we do.
