Its always a good idea to start with a creative brief - even if you have to create it yourself. Identify the target audience, outline the problem you are looking to solve, make notes around themes/emotions/tone, figure out your "must-haves", and how you will define success. Oh and make sure to record any logistics - like will the flyer be printed and digital, will they need multiple aspect ratios, for reels or paid social - as these details will affect your how you build things.
You create the brief before putting pencil to paper...er mouse to pixel... it is the framework that you use throughout the process to make intelligent design decisions. Remember, you're not trying to make something look cool. You are trying to solve a very specific problem, communicate a very specific message, and engage a very specific audience.
There's a big difference in designing promotional material for The International Pizza Expo and The National Funeral Directors Convention. The brief will put you in the correct lane.
okay i see. i guess not everything is about making it cool huh. i appreciate the way you worded this. will def come back to it when im stuck. thank you
I like to fool around with different grid structures and text types. There’s also tons of raster effects in illustrator that can’t be overlooked. I would play around a bit and I guarantee you’ll find something unique to work with
ahh. ill take a peek, i haven’t messed around with illustrator yet during this process. ive mostly been trying to mess around with photoshop. ill see what i can do with that instead, thank you so much
Read the brief. Outline any potential preliminary direction. If I'm struggling to find a direction I look up inspiration either through directly related design projects other people have done or just indirect inspiration that has no immediate relevance (I don't do this until I've tapped out on the relative inspiration first). At that point I know I'm not emulating someone else's style so much as I'm picking and choosing what I know will help me get my project closer to the final vision I have in my head. I also reach out to anyone who I think will give me constructive feedback that I can put towards bettering the project. If I have time I'll continue to go through the process of measuring whether I'm meeting the creative brief but also accomplishing what direction I was going for. And that's it. If the client or any other stakeholders feel that I've missed the mark then I'll reiterate, unless they believe and I believe there was a breakdown in communicating what the project was, then we need to re-scope.
I know this workflow might not necessarily apply to poster design, but the foundation of it is the basic design workflow I follow in a lot of things. I know I'm not an inventor of new ideas, and I know I'm not some groundbreaking artist, so if I'm ever hitting some sort of block I pause and go get inspired so I can move forward.
Its always a good idea to start with a creative brief - even if you have to create it yourself. Identify the target audience, outline the problem you are looking to solve, make notes around themes/emotions/tone, figure out your "must-haves", and how you will define success. Oh and make sure to record any logistics - like will the flyer be printed and digital, will they need multiple aspect ratios, for reels or paid social - as these details will affect your how you build things. You create the brief before putting pencil to paper...er mouse to pixel... it is the framework that you use throughout the process to make intelligent design decisions. Remember, you're not trying to make something look cool. You are trying to solve a very specific problem, communicate a very specific message, and engage a very specific audience. There's a big difference in designing promotional material for The International Pizza Expo and The National Funeral Directors Convention. The brief will put you in the correct lane.
okay i see. i guess not everything is about making it cool huh. i appreciate the way you worded this. will def come back to it when im stuck. thank you
I like to fool around with different grid structures and text types. There’s also tons of raster effects in illustrator that can’t be overlooked. I would play around a bit and I guarantee you’ll find something unique to work with
ahh. ill take a peek, i haven’t messed around with illustrator yet during this process. ive mostly been trying to mess around with photoshop. ill see what i can do with that instead, thank you so much
Hating myself while I’m noodling around trying to find an idea, then finally getting one and being good.
Read the brief. Outline any potential preliminary direction. If I'm struggling to find a direction I look up inspiration either through directly related design projects other people have done or just indirect inspiration that has no immediate relevance (I don't do this until I've tapped out on the relative inspiration first). At that point I know I'm not emulating someone else's style so much as I'm picking and choosing what I know will help me get my project closer to the final vision I have in my head. I also reach out to anyone who I think will give me constructive feedback that I can put towards bettering the project. If I have time I'll continue to go through the process of measuring whether I'm meeting the creative brief but also accomplishing what direction I was going for. And that's it. If the client or any other stakeholders feel that I've missed the mark then I'll reiterate, unless they believe and I believe there was a breakdown in communicating what the project was, then we need to re-scope. I know this workflow might not necessarily apply to poster design, but the foundation of it is the basic design workflow I follow in a lot of things. I know I'm not an inventor of new ideas, and I know I'm not some groundbreaking artist, so if I'm ever hitting some sort of block I pause and go get inspired so I can move forward.