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Here are my final concepts and box die-line design of my cat treat brand, Pounce.

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Creative process of the brand logo for the cat food company, Pounce. 

#ConceptualStrategies

#CommunicationDesign

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Tokyo 1964 Official emblem Construction from the design manual.  Designer Yusaku Kamakura. ⁣

The Olympic Games in Tokyo marked the beginning of minimalist graphic design that became standard. Typography and the concise utilization of colors were essential elements of the visual identity.⁣

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The design is composed of a combination of images, typeface choices, decorative elements and other symbols that were taken in the downtown streets of Austin, Texas. The digital composition focuses on capturing the diverse scenes and differences in the "Austinite" consumer culture. The image on the lower half of the composition is the primary hierarchical focus which is meant to attract the viewer at first glance. The contrast of the vibrant yellow within the negative space of "RIDER" creates visual weight and a strong focal point. Proceeding up the piece with intentional spacing are words from a sign ("INNER VIEW") that have receding lines around it which draw attention to the type, create tension and continue through to the top of the image. The image over "INNER VIEW" ("XU..."), getting more and more opaque as it moves higher, is to draw attention to the top of the composition, create depth, and point the viewer to the top left. The faded, yet bright overlain "STAR," is to capture attention at the top left of the piece and blend with the underlying faded text which points downwards back to the primary image. Using a gradient of warm colors within the piece and pink/orange description tie the composition together while portraying the beautiful Austin sunsets.

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I enjoyed reading your essay, and I agree that design thinking is a smart strategy and a part of the creative conceptualizing process. The idea of always asking why and questioning/testing the different possibilities are a crucial step in starting to create an initial concept. I agree with the point you made about needing to get a project or homework done and asking yourself, “what’s the most important thing I need to do first?” or “what’s due soon?” It does help to figure out what to do first, but also, I would suggest creating a list of everything you need to do and have a check box or number of importance next to each task. This will allow you to check off everything you need to do, while subconsciously keeping a reminder of the things needed to be complete.

I too was a studio art major – and the act of creation is a lot more spontaneous and unknown. Therefore, being a designer and needing to create concepts for other peoples’ needs, demands a plethora of word lists, rough drafts, ideas and thumbnails to come to a successful implementation. “Trusting the process” is extremely important and mandatory for sticking it through and creating an array of ideas.

Design Thinking

       From what I have read about design thinking, it is the process in which businesses take in order to solve a problem for a specific project, and then from there, they choose the best and strongest solution. Design thinking is definitely a smart strategy and a part of the creative process. In one of the articles that I read, a quote that caught my attention by Mike Joyce, said that “design thinking has the power to change the way you approach problem-solving by always referencing the ‘why.’ Why are we doing this? You learn to question you assumptions every step of the way.” I strongly agree with this statement. In my opinion, it is good that you question things because you are recognizing it as a potential issue that you would like to fix and thinking about the different affects and variables of what the outcome would be. It is also a good way to stay organized with your thoughts. For example, when I begin a new project or simply just my homework, I sometimes have to force myself to sit down and ask myself “what’s the most important thing I need to do first?” or “what’s due soon?” This helps me to destress and to efficiently work on my homework accordingly. In another article I had read, it continued to explain what design thinking was: “Design thinking is a shorthand that the business world has adopted to describe the combination of creativity and pragmatism that a design mindset brings to the development of new products and services,” followed by, “design thinking is a toolbox of resources and methods that teams can use to systematically recognize opportunities and solve problems they’ve never seen before…it is an intimate process—collaborative, empathetic, visual, iterative—where user insights and epiphanies become the DNA of new or improved experiences.” 

       Design thinking, I have come to learn, is an extremely crucial part of any creative process. It is true when they say to “trust the process” because that is what leads up to your final product. It is also true when they said it is an “intimate process.” I think the most challenging part for me personally is the design process/creative process. Normally, I am the type of person who just thinks of an idea, go with it, and hope the turnout is good, and I honestly end up  with the results I was expecting. However, this only happens on special occasions. Until I became a Communication Design major, I did not always take the design process seriously. Though at the time I was originally a Studio Art major, I was never really taught how much the importance of the design process is emphasized in the art field. However, I feel like the more I use design thinking, the better artist I become. I am learning how to do projects the right way in order to get the best results. It has not been easy trying to “trust the process” and not just “go with the flow,” but little, by little, I feel like I’m getting the hang of it and learning just how important design thinking really is.

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I enjoyed reading your essay, and I love that quote by Jack London! After reading the first paragraph, seeing the four stages of creative thinking really lured me in and had me wanting to read more. I haven’t done much research on creative thinking, but I have to agree that preparation, incubation, illumination and verification are necessary for conceptualizing a successful design.

I like the way you describe preparation and the necessary mental/physical steps to begin the creative process. I agree that research, asking questions and immersing yourself fully in the task at hand is essential. I appreciate you mentioning the incubation process and letting your subconscious gain a solid understanding of what’s important, and in time, sparking unexpected ideas. This is something a lot of people don’t realize is key to having a “eureka” moment for a concept, and you tie this into the following paragraph nicely. I hadn’t read the following paragraph, and for you to tie it in and explain the light bulb moment being the “illumination stage” was nice to read. I agree that when the idea hits you, you feel like you’ve found the missing piece to the puzzle. It’s true that the idea that hit you might not formulate the way you expected it to, thus the recommendation of having many different ideas is crucial so you don’t backtrack in the creative thinking process.

I appreciate the way you wrote your essay in an informative style as if you are trying to help someone understand and gain a new skill.

Creative Thinking

“You can’t wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club.”

-Jack London, American Novelist 

How does a creative person arrive at a “Eureka!” moment? Are some people just more in tune with the right side, the creative side, of their brain than others? Are we supposed to wait around until inspiration strikes? According to psychologist Scott Barry Kaufman, scientific director of The Imagination Institute in the Positive Psychology Center at the University of Pennsylvania, the neuroscience behind the creative process is much more complicated and is largely comprised of four basic stages which engage both the creative right side and analytical left side of the brain. The four stages of the creative thinking process are as follows: preparation, incubation, illumination, and verification. 

Preparation is square one of the creative thinking process, it begins by identifying a problem, a specific need, or an otherwise area where a solution is needed. In this phase, you must focus on collecting as much information and doing as much research as possible. Immerse yourself in the subject. This will serve as the foundation and planning stage by which the additional three phases are built on, so being as thorough here as possible is advisable. Ultimately, this is the phase where you are putting every observation and idea on paper, nothing is too silly to be off limits. 

Once you have a gained a thorough understanding of the subject and sufficient research has been completed, the incubation phase will begin. In this phase, the information you have gathered will spend some time in your subconscious allowing you to form more complex opinions and create new connections with the subject matter. Use this time to look over all the information gathered and begin narrowing it down while also remaining open to forming new thoughts. Allow your subconscious mind to digest and consider everything you’ve learned, this is often the stage by which creative ideas strike, often unexpectedly. The incubation period can be short or it can be long. 

Eureka! Sometime during the incubation period, when all of the information is circulating through your subconscious, you’ll finally have an light bulb moment. This phase is appropriately named the illumination stage, this critical moment generally appears very suddenly and is normally accompanied by a feeling of certainty. You will feel as if a missing puzzle has been put into place. This finally brings us to the the final stage of the creative thinking process, called verification, in which you will test and evaluate your idea to determine if it will work. If it works, you must polish and refine the idea as well as figure out how to appropriately package the idea so the message comes across to your audience. In some cases, an idea may not work out, and the creative process must begin anew. 

The creative process, just like everything else, is something that requires practice  before you can become skilled at it. There is not an exact formula behind being creative, but this process can provide a tried and true framework to generate and refine creative ideas. Use this as a general approach to creative problem solving, and over time, tweak it to better serve your specific needs. 

Works Cited

Sharp, Callum. “The 5 stages of the creative process.” The Writing Cooperative, Nov. 2019, https://writingcooperative.com/the-5-stages-of-the-creative-process-4f8037b7119f

“Creative Thinking Process” The Peak Performance Center, Nov. 2019, http://thepeakperformancecenter.com/educational-learning/thinking/types-of-thinking-2/creative-thinking-process/

Stillman, Jessica. “The 4 Stages of Creativity” Inc.com, Nov. 2019, https://www.inc.com/jessica-stillman/the-4-stages-of-creativity.html

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I enjoyed reading your essay, and I agree with the points you made. Being a designer is to always have the consumer or others in mind when creating a concept. I agree with you when you say that it is vital for designers to gather inspiration from different communities and get many different perspectives when it comes to nailing down ideas/problems/solutions. The ideation stage is also very crucial because it’s where the designer takes the inspiration accumulated and starts to archive information needed for word lists, thumbnails, problem-solving ideas and concepts.

You mentioned that the designer should encourage their team to collaborate and come up with a plethora of ideas. This process is probably one of the most important steps in getting closer to the end result. It’s good to think on your own and have your personal ideas, but to have a group of like-minded individuals who can compare and contrast their ideas is extremely pertinent. The final stage that you mention, implementation, is where things get feasible and explorative. The team of designers will begin to create physical concepts and test repeatedly until the outcome is cohesive throughout all markets and consumers. The only thing is, conceptual ideas for design always seem to be ever changing and constantly advancing, so the process of testing and updating usually never ends. 

You reflected the concepts and process of being a valuable designer very well and tie it together successfully.

Design Writing 2

Sydney Sokora

ARTC 1302

Professor Kim

November 15, 2019

The Importance of Human Centered Design

          Human centered designers think differently. They solve problems uniquely. This process involves many trials, many errors, and lots of room for not knowing the solution to the problem. It requires patience, optimism, and willingness to push the boundaries of comfort. The process of human centered design includes three main phases: Inspiration, Ideation, and Implementation (The Field Guide…).  

          In the first stage, Inspiration, the designer will observe various aspects of people: how they live, their desires, how they interact with others, and any other characteristics that might help lead them to a solution for their problem. Nailing down exactly what problem they want to solve as well as completing any research needed is necessary in this stage. The designer should begin to interview individuals and groups in the appropriate communities, gathering information about them and how they might be able to help them. Interviewing will give them a better understanding of this group, how they think and things they want. Once you’ve gathered in-field research, the designer should define their audience and then immerse themselves in their communities, learning to think like them. After organizing their research, the designer is ready to move on to the next stage in the process: Ideation.

          In the Ideation stage, the designer will start to ask questions like “What can I take from my research?” “How do I begin to implement my ideas into an actual design?” and “How do I know my idea is effective?” Ideation is a challenging phase in the design process, therefore, creating a list of their top five solutions might help narrow the designer’s thinking and maybe even spark new ideas when discussing the list with teammates. Sorting through ideas and categorizing them by themes and patterns can help them to better understand the research. If there are any ideas the designer has a good feeling about, they should follow that feeling and explore that idea further, so that they can either eliminate it or take it to the next stage. The designer should encourage their team to brainstorm a plethora of innovative ideas, no matter how wild or unattainable they seem. Brainstorming this way ensures that you come up with the best possible idea. Next, they should come up with a concept that they can perfect and push onward to the last stage: Implementation.

          In the last stage, Implementation, the designer explores what’s next, how they’re going to bring their concept to life, and making sure their solution is working. First, they should consider using a Live Prototype, where they get the chance to test their product in the real world, only for a few weeks (The Field Guide…). They should ensure they have a plan for getting their product to market and how they are going to present it to the public. It is also important to build connections through networking. Creating a funding strategy will also help plan for spending and expenses. Now that they’ve implemented a Live Prototype, they should produce a Pilot product to test for a longer-term (The Field Guide…). The last and final step is to connect with funders and go to market.

Works Cited

The Field Guide to Human-Centered Design. Design Kit, 2015.

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In this composition, the pair of contrasting words chosen was organic and mechanical. When thinking about these two words, circuit/mother boards and humans came to mind. The intended goal is to communicate the dominance of technology, and the idea that most people are “attached” to their technological devices. The tracks in the circuit board extending from the phone onto the hand are to signify that we as humans are constantly connected with modern technology. The hand and forearm that is covered in circuit boards and motherboards is to convey the metaphor that our society is fully consumed and interconnected by computer systems. The white background that is intended to construct a futuristic setting creates a strong positive/negative relationship that keeps the viewers attention on the foreground. The design technique, rule of thirds, is used in the composition by placing the focus of the phone and hand on the top left third of the piece. The corner of the wall on the right side of the composition is to balance out the piece, because the focal point is towards the left.

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Human–Centered Design

When researching human centered design and the thought of creative origination, I came across David Kelley’s belief that creativity lies within anyone and everyone. Kelley is the founder of IDEO, a community of designers, entrepreneurs, engineers, teachers, researchers, and more. In his younger years, he went to a psychologist (Dr. Bandura) at Stanford where he discovered the thought process behind phobias and the confidence to overcome them. Bandura presented a concept to Kelley known as “self–efficacy”: “the belief in one’s capabilities to organize and execute the courses of action required to manage prospective situations." In other words, self–efficacy is a person’s belief in his or her ability to succeed in a particular situation. Bandura described these beliefs as determinants of how people think, behave, and feel.

For wanting to work in a creative environment surrounded by people he liked, Kelley created IDEO, and made a commitment to making great things happen in the world. His passion is to “help unlock creative confidence in everyone from students to business executives.” He is a jack-of-all-trades; he received his masters in engineering as well as product design, and was awarded an honorary recognition that “distinguishes contribution to design education.”

After reading articles about Kelley and his accomplishments, his ideas about design thinking and human-centered design cannot go unnoticed. His communities of designers in multiple places around the world focus on helping their clients and partners at the individual, organizational, and societal level. They assist clients by building their creative capacity and ability to grow, adapt, and routinely innovate. Human–centered design is a large contributor to the process of innovative advancements in our modern world, and a quote from IDEO’s website that draws my attention is that “you can move forward faster if you take a look back.” Meaning, we advance in the design world by looking back at previous concepts and constantly push the idea that they can always be evolved into something better than before.

As humans, we always want more, or the next big thing—this is where the designers come into play and reflect on whether something needs to be revisited. As the technology of the modern world continues to be ever-advancing, human needs seem to accelerate. Therefore, complex problems are best solved collaboratively. “Even as our methods evolve in response to new, complex challenges, we’re always designing solutions for people first. We’re building to learn, and learning as we build, through inspiration, ideation, collaboration and implementation.” Nevertheless, we must not forget how important the past is helping us shape the intention for the future.

Kelley, David, and Tom Kelley. “Creative Confidence.” IDEO Is a Global Design and Innovation Company., Oct. 2013, www.ideo.com/post/creative-confidence.

Tillman, Ashley, and Chelsea Takamine. “Open Reflections: Looking Back on a Year of Impact.” OpenIDEO, 2017, www.openideo.com/content/open-reflections-2017.

Cherry, Kendra. “How Self Efficacy Helps You Achieve Your Goals.” Verywell Mind, Verywell Mind, 7 Oct. 2019, www.verywellmind.com/what-is-self-efficacy-2795954.

IDEO. “About IDEO.” Our Story, Who We Are, How We Work, 2019, www.ideo.com/about.

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I really enjoyed reading your essay! I hadn’t thought about the idea that exercise improves the thinking mind and helps process information better. Now that I know this information, I can understand why the body and mind process better after physical activity. It only makes sense; when you are pushing your body to be at it’s highest potential, your mind and body essentially thanks you and turns it into a positive mental reinforcement that in turn–opens your variance when creating. Exercise speeds up the birth of new brain cells and increases the size of the hippocampus; improving memory and helping one “imagine new situations.”

A man who exercises every single day, Haruki Murakami, runs for long periods of time and eventually completely clears his mind. Once he reaches that stage, ideas start “abruptly crawling” into his mind and he can then clearly articulate his ideas in his writing.

I am glad I read your essay because it made me realize that I need to get to the gym more and rejuvenate my creative mind!

Design Writing: Walk On

Walk On: The Pace and Place of Creative Thinking

“Sit as little as possible.” The philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche continues: “Do not believe any idea that was not born in the open air and of free movement—in which the muscles do not also revel.” 

In this article, the author highlights the notion that the power of exercise can lead to better creative thinking, and I wholeheartedly agree. While this theory used to be just an abstract idea, many of the great thinkers and philosophers of history have used this secret to getting into a creative mindset. However, neurotechnology has vastly improved and in 2014, Stanford University was able to quantify this idea, and published a cognitive study that definitively concluded that just walking regularly improved both convergent and divergent thinking by at least sixty percent.

In the past, I was never a regular at the gym, and I believe my creativity took a dive because of it. When you have a sedentary lifestyle, your entire mindset becomes lazy as a default. As an active child, I was always coming up with crazy ideas, making crafts and drawings, seemingly having unending energy and imagination. A few years ago I came to realize that as an adult, I could sit in front of my easel for hours without making any significant progress. My brain felt foggy, distracted and slow. I wanted to recapture that zest for art and creativity that I used to have ever flowing when I was younger. Having hardly any motivation or energy for creating, I decided that I should start a yoga practice to help with the problem. 

Once I began taking small steps toward being more active, I realized that afterwards, I felt more like sitting down and figuring out how and what to paint. Eventually, yoga turned into jogging and then I decided to join a boxing gym. Since I have been training, the endorphins and adrenaline that are released help significantly lessen anxiety about how “good” or “bad” my work is and I am able to detach myself from the creative blocks in my head. Intense exercising helps me to open my mind, leading to finding solutions for many different problems in my life. When you quiet the useless thoughts, there is a whole other world of intuitive thinking for open ended ideas. 

The author of this article asserts that “seeking out the ‘path less traveled’ is synonymous with a creative lifestyle, literally and figuratively.” Mental dexterity and thinking outside the box are the basis of any creative practice, and I have discovered that for me, having a regular routine of waking up, boxing and kickboxing for a few hours, cooling down and then sitting at my desk with the intention of having a productive day has completely changed my mindset in my creative practice. Once you begin training your body, you are training your mind to overcome the voice that says “you can’t do it” at the same time, and it eventually becomes second nature.

Rose, Suzanne. “Walk On: The Pace and Place of Creative Thinking.” Door County , 1 June 2019.

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Letterforms and Objects - Statement of Intent

When challenged to think about the letters “a” and “f” as organic and man-made forms, it changed the way I perceive letters and the way they came to be something everyone can understand. It’s quite intriguing to think about the way people can connect and communicate using these symbols. When thinking about the curved characteristics of the serif lowercased “a”, round and smooth animals came to mind. After looking at many different animals, the penguin became the favored subject for the lowercased “a” shape. The curved stem or spine of the letter “a” became the spine or back of the penguin. Advancing towards the arc and top left terminal of the “a”, the neck and head of the penguin was constructed. To tie in the quality and fully communicate the form of the penguin, the flipper was added to the right of the enclosed counter, giving visual weight and representing the organic form of the animal. The spur at the bottom right of the “a” conveys the tail of the penguin while incorporating the form of the font of that is used. The positive and negative relationship between black and white is cohesive with the tones of an actual penguin. 

The letter “f” is in sans serif font and incorporated with a construction crane. The qualities of the letter are not outstanding because the font chosen is a straight edged form. The stem of the letter “F” is integrated into the crane, conveying one long support that vertically rises up to move objects around a building. Above the stem are the arm of the capitalized “F” and the combined structure of a crane to give a mechanical impression to the composition. Below the top arm, a simulated suspension cord hangs down to hold the center arm of the letter, completing the full form of the “F.” The support of the replicated crane at the baseline of the letterform balances the visual weight and creates a ground plane for the composition.

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Design Writing/Thinking

Design Writing

           The idea of design thinking is ever flexible, allowing viewpoints and concepts to grow into something that wasn’t thought, initially. Additionally, these initial concepts continue to grow into more hypotheses that construct a field of stemming possibilities, thus creating an array of varying potential. Design thinking and implementing ideas have a limitless capacity of outcomes in the modern technological world we live and create in.

           Tim Brown, CEO of IDEO, the design company that popularized the term design thinking, states “Design thinking can be described as a discipline that uses the designer’s sensibility and methods to match people’s needs with what is technologically feasible and what a viable business strategy can convert into customer value and market opportunity.” Designthinking.ideo.com, Brown’s primary engine, which drives this concept of design thinking, is people. Someone highlights an issue, and wants to transform it into a physical, useful, and innovative tool for other people. With design thinking constantly adapting to new technological ways of creating, there is a repetitive cycle of methods evolving to feasible, viable and desirable conclusions. This ever-evolving process implements, empathizes, defines, ideates, prototypes, and tests the concepts that are presented.

           A designer’s mindset is creative and innovative, taking action and bestowing solutions, rather than focusing solely on a problem. This thought process requires imagination, intuitiveness, and thinking logically or illogically, outside of the box for the end user to deem the outcome diverse and beneficial. Imagination is a key characteristic to jumpstarting the design thought-process. The next step after implementing a vision is to empathize; consequently researching the user target and listing ideas that would become a successful solution. After researching and brainstorming, definition and ideation of the concept are up next; integrating and finding the problem while generating value-added, unique, and even off-the-wall ideas, which seem cohesive to the end user’s benefit. Thereafter ideation and narrowing down the best concepts, creating many different physical prototypes and versions of the designs is when the user and designer hone in on the most desirable and viable compositions.  Analysis and feedback stem from created designs and eventually, the ideas evolve into the development cycle to be updated and restructured. It is important to keep in mind that design thinking is constantly changing the way people judge a design as successful, thus creating a time for criticism and innovative thinking, which is detrimental to improving a prototype.

           Inspiration, implementation, and ideation consistently bounce off of each other, thus spawning new ways to make a completed design even better than it was before. There are many examples of this modern concept; the progression of large wired telephones to computerized cellular phones in the palm of our hands, or the advancement of the first Apple Macintosh computer to the slim, lightweight MacBook Air that one may take with them anywhere they go.

           The concept of ice making was also a major design thinking resolution; a couple men in the late 1800s cut blocks of ice during the winter and brought it to the consumers who wanted it. Thirty years later, the idea of innovation was to create a factory that produced ice in any season and having an iceman deliver it. Another thirty years go by and the prototype of ice making is implemented into homes through refrigeration, creating easy access for everyone through their personal ice machines. This improvement of an initial idea is a perfect example of the way design thinking continues to improve consumer feasibility and accessibility.

           In conclusion, learning by doing is critical in the process of design thinking.  A concept or physical prototype must be tested and critiqued in order for improvement to be achieved, therefor evolving an idea into it’s greatest potential.

           The first prototype of a concept is most likely not going to be the end result or final product of the design, thus creating a problem or challenge to revise. There are always new varieties and styles that are created because of the critiques provided in the initial product presentation. The act of design thinking is to continuously create and conceptualize without being fearful of the next great innovative improvement. Keeping people at the center of every process, and arriving at optimal solutions that meet customer needs, is the key to success.

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Happy Birthday, Douglas Kirkland! 

A legendary photographer, photographed here in Look magazine, 1961.