Evaluating the Use of the Design Cycle

I was excited to start this module on Digital Branding and then daunted when it did! There was so much to take in, from consideration for the visual language of Semiotics to the importance of a digital branding strategy and its links with a marketing strategy. To begin with I found this, linked with my need to design or redesign a logo and learn how to use Photoshop and iMovie, somewhat overwhelming. The reason for this is, if I am honest, having to design or redesign a logo and learn new software packages scared the pants off me! It's probably because I am a perfectionist with OCD tendancies and I hate not fully knowing what I am doing and subsequently getting things wrong. But as they say, you don't learn unless you actually take action and sometimes fail.

I set out with the belief that I do not need to use any model to help my create process. Never having used it I did not think I needed it. So I took action to examine this belief and decided to tackle the Task 2 Brief of designing/redesigning a logo by systematically using the Design Cycle. Starting in the investigative stage I had identified the problem that my friend, a musical director and vocalist had no logo or brand image and so she needed one created from scratch.

This is where my intention to take a logical approach  using Convergent Thinking went straight out the window! My mind automatically went into Divergent Thinking with instinctive visuals of what the new logo design would look like, coming to mind and being transferred onto paper. Before I realised it I had skipped the design brief and design specification stages. Or had I?

On going back to the design brief and specification stages I realised that instinctively I had formulated a design brief subconsciously using "Green Light Thinking" (connecting pieces of information together subconsciously). How did I come to this conclusion? Once I had written down a design brief I found the initial logo design almost met the full brief. (Isn't it fascinating how fast the mind works?) However, going back and consciously thinking through the design brief, using Convergent Thinking, did enable me to refine the logo even further.

Because of my focus on using the Design Cycle I made myself stay in the planning stage longer than I  normally would have done. Why did I make myself do this when all my instincts were wanting me to get on with the design? To be honest, I was experimenting to see if the Design Cycle, when used in a more constructive way, was any better than my own way of creating instinctively. To my surprise I found that by making myself do more research into other logos, colours, images and shapes the finished logo was far more professional. Why was I surprised? Probably because I love the creative process much more than the research.

Boy, was I wrong! The more I got into the research the more it stimulated my creativity, enhancing the original logo design into something I would have never achieved without the time spent on research. Point to self: DO MORE RESEARCH - IT HELPS AND I LOVE DOING IT!

Once I got to the next phase of the Creative Cycle (use the appropriate techniques and equipment) I found that I had no choice but to use logical Convergent Thinking because this was completely new territory for me. I was now into the realms of learning how to use Photoshop, and way outside my comfort zone.

I really became frustrated at this point because my preferred learning style is to have someone physically show me what to do and I then replicate it. Online tutorials and You Tube videos make me feel inadequate and useless. Why is that I wondered? Just had an 'Aha moment'! It's because when I am so under confident, as I am with new technology, I need more than tuition. I need affirmation that I am on the right track and doing OK! This keeps me calm and stops me going into panic mode. It also stops me focusing on the belief that I can't do it, which then prevents me from learning effectively. Wow, that was a new piece of self-discovery - very interesting!

My thanks therefore go to Adam and to Sarah who both helped me learn enough about Photoshop to create a new logo for Jo and gave me the positive feedback I needed to overcome my techno fear barrier.

The penultimate phase of the Design Cycle (evaluate the product or solution) is one I usually don't take much time over. Or do I? Again I am realising that I make a shift back into Divergent Thinking here. I have an instinctive feeling when all the responses have come together and something is right or ready. It's like I just know intuitively and subconsciously that all the planned elements have come together and are just right.
However, for this task I went back to the design brief and checked that I had covered all points. This was a useful process but it took time and added no benefit in this case. I also had lots of great feedback from members of the group which I found really useful, even the constructive criticism, and it all helped with the final design.

So now I am undertaking the final stage "Evaluate the Us of the Design Cycle". I have to admit that I was wrong in my original belief that using only Divergent Thinking is the best way for me to use my creativity. I can see this now because by going back and spending more time in the planning stage and the evaluation stage I have learnt more, enhanced my creativity and strengthened my critical analysis skills as demonstrated by the completed logo and it's match to the design brief. I realise now that I started out thinking that the Creative Design Model was good in theory but not in practice. Why did I think that? Probably because I didn't think I used it and thought my instinctive creativity was better than any use of a model. (How conceited!)

The reality is that I do use all parts of the model but some of it is from a subconscious level and I dance around it in a way that is more flexible and allows for the free flow of my creativity. This is good for me as to be constrained by the rigidity of a model and having to use it's flow exactly, stifles my Divergent Thinking and creativity. This was clearly demonstrated by the fact that so soon after making the decision to use the Design Cycle, in a logical way using Convergent Thinking, my mind automatically switched to creative design mode (Divergent Thinking) without a thought out design brief or specification, yet the initial logo was almost fully in line with the subsequent spec and brief.

Using the Design Cycle constructively by consciously checking that all areas of the model have been well  covered ensures nothing is missed out of the design process. It also enhances creativity by feeding you with more ideas as demonstrated by my extra work on research and planning which lead to me using an image of a wavy flow of music.

In conclusion, I now see that my belief that I do not need or use a design cycle is wrong. Whilst this exercise proved to me that I use all aspects of the model instinctively, I now see that using it consciously through Convergent Thinking enhances my use of Divergent Thinking. It therefore offers a valuable model that enhances the creative process and ensures the project is well evaluated.