When working on a project, it is important to firstly know
what exactly the project is about. Without this knowledge it would be difficult
to move on any further. Research is key in any project, big or small. It is the
foundation of any piece of work and without it, there is no depth and your
ideas will not be expanded enough for it to work as well as it possibly can. Relevant
research is also very important, there is no point whatsoever in looking at
something totally irrelevant, so it is a must to explore, and then look even
deeper into it, so you can think outside the box.
The next step in the
design process is to brainstorm; a spider diagram or a mood board seems to work
the best for me. This is essential to do, because you can see all of your ideas
right in front of you and it gives you so many options. Your brainstorm should
help you to clearly see all of your relevant research and make you see the direction
you want to take your work in. It should help you to think of the more abstract
and unusual ideas and prepare you for the next step in the design process.
The next step is to explore ideas, you need to make sure
that you really try everything that you suggested in your mood board or you
could end up with your idea falling flat, and not meeting its potential.
Working with different materials than originally planned is always good to try,
so you can know the best option for that particular project. Besides, you don’t know if you don’t try.
Also it never hurts to have too much of a good thing, try mixing ideas, you
never know if it’ll work out.
Next, it’s time to decide what direction you want to take
with your project, the great thing about this stage in the process is that you
can always take a step back if your ideas don’t work out as planned. If your
mood board is full and explored enough, you have enough options to choose from
and you learn from the mistakes you made before. A machete, model or prototype
really can help you in this stage of the process, you can really expand your
ideas and it helps you to see what the final outcome could possible be. As your
machete is a small piece of work, you have time to fully explore and expand
your ideas before moving onto to your main piece. This in my opinion is the
most crucial part of the process because you are finalizing your ideas in
preparation to do the main piece. At this stage, mistakes aren't the end of the
world, it just helps you to move on, so you don’t make the mistakes on the final
product.
Finally, the last stage in the process is your final outcome,
by this time your work should have been fully explored and you should feel
confident that it is the best possible outcome you could have made in that
project. It is also important to do reflective practice so you can improve
every time you do a project. (Even if it’s little things, every little bit
counts)
