Take a Look Behind the Scenes at my Design Process

Are you a client of mine? Or are you thinking about becoming one? You might be wondering what my process is to develop a design? I'll break it down for you the best I can. Welcome to the inner workings of my mind.

When I was at University, we were taught to use a formulaic process to arrive at a final design. It looked a little bit like this:
• Receive brief
• Research
• Design concepts
• Develop concepts based on feedback
• Refine concepts based on feedback
• Present final design

This was such a frustrating process for me. By the time I received a brief, my mind erupted about a thousand concepts. The process of putting them on paper was irrelevant, and a waste of time for me. Once I am given a brief, I tend to mull it over in my mind for a day or so, and when I say mull, I mean, obsess. I think about it constantly. Go for a walk, think about it. Cook dinner, think about it. Take a shower, think about it. Go to sleep, dream about it. You get what I'm putting down? I obsess over it. My process tends to be a little less linear and looks a little bit more like below (and not always in this order):

• Receive brief
• Obsess over it. Obsess over it some more.
• Do some research, a lot of this is done on Pinterest
• Design and eradicate concepts in my head
• Sketch any pictorial elements in my notebook
• Render the best concepts on the computer and present concepts to client
• Receive feedback, obsess over it
• Develop chosen designs in my head. Create a problem in my head, blow it out of proportion in my head, solve the problem in my head
• Send to client for feedback
• Make any client or Cheyney-driven refinements
• Present to the client

Sometimes this process is catered to the personality of the client. Some clients have a concept that they want executed and that's perfectly fine by me. I'm happy to work alongside their vision to bring their concept to life.

It's worth mentioning that I'm not happy until the client is happy, so this process will bend depending on client feedback. I care as much about the design than the person hiring me. It might be a design that I am so proud of, but if the client isn't happy, I'm not happy and will work until it's right for both of us. 

Moral of the story is, A LOT of my designs are done in my head - Those are non-billable hours people! What you’re paying for when you hire me is the hours spent rendering the idea on the computer. 

If you want my mind to obsess over your design potential, email me at contact@designbycheyney.com. Feel free to ask any questions or comment below. 

Cheyney xx