Methodology

What is methodology?

a system of methods used in a particular area of study or activity.

"a methodology for investigating the concept of focal points"

What is design methodology?

Design methodology refers to the development of a system or method for a unique situation. Today, the term is most often applied to technological fields in reference to web design, software or information systems design. 

Whilst your design process outlines the procedure that you adhere to when doing design projects, methodology aims to interrogate there procedures in terms if their effectiveness and suitability. 

Why is methodology important in developing effective graphic design practice?

Second guessing, good design has a reason/purpose. Understanding the context and audience that it will exist within.

500 words on graphic design methodology. 

The basis of all good design is thorough research and this is no exception for my methodology. There are main areas of study that I begin with when researching for a project, the first is the potential audience. Understanding the target audience makes for stronger design, who are they? What age are they? What do they do? What do they enjoy? What will communicate the idea to them the strongest? Alongside this I always narrow down what exactly I am trying to communicate, am I intending to inform or persuade? Educate or entertain? From this tip of the iceberg many ideas can begin to formulate but it is with further research and understanding that one will become more fruitful than the others. The key here is to now understand the market place it will exist within, the context it will be surrounded by, a bus poster will be a very different creature from a doctors brochure, a logo that will identify a company will need many different things than an album cover. It is down to me as the designer to research and fully know all of these potential changes and to produce work that works alongside them. This can include the materials it will be printed on, the cost of each piece of design, what will it physically need in the real world and what design would suit the requirements. We can also look into tone of voice, and this will be born out of context, audience and communication, a brochure in a doctors office that is describing the symptoms of breast cancer wouldn't work with the same colours, shapes and tones as a children's magazine and vice versa, there will only be so many decisions that can be considered appropriate for the final product and it is again my job to figure out what is and isn't suitable. Another form of research is to look into what's been done before, it's not acceptable to imitate another piece of design (unless imitation is an appropriate requirement of the solution) but it's fine to be inspired by other work, to see what can be done and to understand how your work could relate to theirs.

From here we can begin to make design decisions, font choices, colour, layout, size, shape, stock, look, feel, tone, all based on our research and understanding. This is where any ideas will flower or die, some will prove to be the most suitable for the situations and others won't cut the mustard. There is no way that the product will be fully ready at this point and there's still a lot of refinement, mock ups and development to be had but from here I will at least have a strong foundation for an idea to grow out of. Good design isn't done for the sake of it, good design solves problems and research and methodology answers all the suitable questions from these problems in order to create the most suitable result.

Lots of Love Roz.