Learning design is not linear, but it is a process. Seems contradicting? Let us break it down for you and show how AND Academy’s courses turn you into a designer who has their design process down to the T!
What is learning design all about? Some may say, practical software, and others may say theoretical principles, while still others may say both. At AND Academy, in addition to these two, we add a third dimension to our pedagogy: the Design Process.
Our online design courses are curated to help you learn the nitty-gritty of design by emphasizing the process. Our approach to teaching is not limited to creating operators who are proficient in Photoshop or Figma; we are all about helping learners think like designers and master their crafts.
In this blog, we will delve further into how AND Academy’s emphasis on acquainting students with the Design Process through its courses allows students to master tools and techniques, without compromising on their creativity. So, let’s dive in!
- What is the Design Process?
- Why Design Process Matters?
- AND Academy’s Emphasis on Design Process in its Courses
- Application of Design Process in AND Learners’ Projects
- Rubina Rajan’s Graphic Design Project
- Saiprasad Chandran Nambiar’s UI UX Design Project
- Monica C Reddy’s Interior Design Project
- Why Choose AND Academy & Next Steps
What is the Design Process?
The concept of the Design Process can be interpreted in multiple ways. Everyone has their own definition but to put it simply, it is the path designers follow to go from understanding the problem to creating a solution. It is a systematic approach towards creativity and problem-solving that allows designers to create designs that resonate with their target audience and have an impact.
While it is difficult to have a tight definition of the design process, it generally involves the following steps.
- Defining the Problem - The first step is to identify the issue that needs to be addressed via the design and create a problem statement out of it.
- Understanding the Problem - The next step is to understand the problem statement. Gather information and insights about the problem and who it impacts. Build the context to work within.
- Ideation - Once you have understood the problem, brainstorm the possible solutions. Be as messy as you want with it and let your mind run wild. This is the stage where your most brilliant ideas will be born.
- Generation - Now, it is time to put your ideas on canvas. Pick up an idea and generate designs around it.
- Prototyping and Testing - Create the prototypes for your design and test them with users before finalizing it.
- Refinement and Iteration - Based on the user feedback, refine your design and repeat the process if needed. Design is often not linear and will need multiple revisions before it is finalized.
Why Design Process Matters?
The design process is often an overlooked part of designing. However, it is the most crucial as it sets the stage for the overall success of your design.
Following the design process helps designers have a clear focus. As the problem is identified beforehand, it reduces error and re-work. It offers clarity on the direction designers want to take with their design and improves the overall user experience.
The design process also allows designers to explore different creative paths and experiment with their style. As the workflows are streamlined and deadlines decided, a design process plays an instrumental role in allowing designers to work in a structured yet flexible way. It also helps build confidence as each successfully completed step is an achievement and a step towards something greater!
AND Academy’s Emphasis on Design Process in its Courses
AND Academy lays special emphasis on the design process. While teaching design software and tools is an important aspect of the curriculum, our pedagogy focuses on teaching students how to create from scratch.
Design is a lot more than software proficiency and our mentors at AND recognize that. We focus on teaching the design process and the nuances of software to facilitate it. This focus materializes in the form of highly interactive classes and regular feedback sessions. AND’s mentors pay special attention to the idea behind the design rather than just the design.
From having separate modules on brainstorming and idea generation to exploring various techniques to condense the design process, walking students through the ‘why’ of design remains the cornerstone of our teaching methodology.
By introducing techniques such as branding pyramids, design inception sheets, and other tools, we equip students with the necessary tools to plan their design projects most effectively. Our mentors have brainstormed specialized techniques to teach learners design without compromising on the core principles and techniques. While Figma, Photoshop, Illustrator, AutoCAD, etc. are part of our curriculum, the learning goes beyond the software and into the ambit of learning design processes and philosophy in detail.
At AND Academy, we have a mission of creating a future generation of designers who can adapt to the changing trends. By teaching our learners the core of the design process, we ready them for the future by offering them a strong foundation on which to build and enhance the quality of their craft.
Application of Design Process in AND Learners’ Projects
Our commitment to teaching learners the design process seriously reflects well in how our learners take on different projects. Here are some examples of how our learners apply the understanding of design processes in their work.
1. Rubina Rajan’s Graphic Design Project
For Rubina’s brochure project, she had to choose an Indian art form and decided to go with Gond, as it is an art form inspired by nature. She found the history behind this art form really interesting.
After choosing the art form, she started with research. She followed the design process, creating mind maps and going into ample detail about every aspect - what should be the visual language? What lines and colors are to be used? How are the colors made? What is the material? What is the meaning of this and that? All of this was, in her words, eye-opening!
She then broke it down further with the design inception sheet - a specialized tool offered by AND Academy to help learners plan their designs efficiently. For Rubina, she used this sheet to look at different things, like what type of patterns to use. She considered the repeating patterns of Gond art and found out it is quite simple. It was like an outline where one fills in the intricate details. It was all very unique as every artist had done something of their own to make the pieces stand out. She finalized colors and patterns to use, alongside other details.
She says, “This process made me have a newfound respect for traditional artists and their work. Nowadays, everything can be made on machines so, it was humbling to see how artists made such brilliant designs with their hands which must have taken years of practice to master.”
She started with some messy ideations for the cover page and invite. She then created characters like snakes, ten-headed animals, etc. But the challenge was to fit the text in the tiny space she was left with. She mentions it was like a sudden reality check but the whole design process was really enjoyable- figuring out the text, finding places to fit it in, and creating a story out of it all!
Next, she went on to digitize the motifs she saw in the paintings, isolating the colors that work well, creating layouts, etc. For the brochure, she went for a storybook kind of layout. It was like a book that kids could open. She used bright colors and engaging characters. Her final brochure has three spreads and the printed version of it is folded in a way that you could very well be reading a whole story when unfolding the brochure.
Read Rubina’s Student Journey with AND Here
2. Saiprasad Chandran Nambiar’s UI UX Design Project
As part of his project, Saiprasad created a brand called Yeng. It's a hypothetical footwear brand and an e-commerce platform. His target audience was the age groups between 20 to 35 belonging to middle and upper-middle-class families.
The main values of this brand included fun, energy, and usefulness. His idea was to present the brand’s personality through its website for which he used youthful fonts and colorful images.
While planning this project, Saiprasad’s mentor asked him to focus on the brand USPs so that the users would be encouraged and feel motivated to check out the website. He worked around it to create a versatile brand.
His design process included research about the target audience, competitive analysis of existing or similar brands, analysis of their websites, their approach towards UI and UX, how they created features and functionalities, etc. He also analyzed why certain people prefer to shop offline and how to make them shop online. Most importantly, he analyzed brands like Adidas and Nike and the way they communicate with their audience.
Then he moved to the visual design part and created the design inception sheet for the first time- a sheet we encourage our designers to work with to think of and answer various questions such as - What will the brand’s personality be? What are the specific audience moods I need to consider?
After all these considerations, he made the UI kit and exported several wireframes. After finalizing one, he made a prototype and started the testing. Post that, came the site map key which he designed with a simple and minimal approach.
Now, moving on to the visual design, he created the brand with a youthful personality. His aim was to ensure that users connect with the brand. The homepage also has a banner about why users should choose his brand. The products are categorized according to the shop view and then, there are other sections including social media. Some other pages on the website include the product list page, the product display page, and the final shopping cart.
Saiprasad followed a comprehensive design process to create a final website that resonated well with his target audience.
Read Saiprasad’s Student Journey with AND Here
3. Monica C Reddy’s Interior Design Project
Monica’s thought process and plan during her project was to fulfill as many of her client’s requirements as possible. In the first meeting, she noted all the ideas the client had for their ideal bedroom. She listed down all their needs and wants, as well as searched for reference images, and brainstormed about what designs and fixtures would be most suitable for them.
She took references from a lot of sources such as magazines, Instagram, Pinterest, etc. She mentions that the research part was really enlightening and played a major role in how she wanted this project to turn out.
The client's behavior and preference were also a consideration for her. She initially thought the client would choose the modern luxury design style because they seemed to prefer that. But, when she showed them the mood boards, they approved the contemporary design layout. This instance was a great learning experience for her as it made her understand how important it is to consider client’s opinions and not work based on assumptions of what they may or may not like.
This also prompted her to start sharing layouts with the client. She mentioned that they initially didn’t understand these layouts, so she printed them out and explained everything in detail. This ensured they could make an informed decision about how they wanted their room to be. From colors to fixtures, the whole planning process was very fascinating for her. She says, “It was a lesson in how to fully understand the client’s requirements.”
Read Monica’s Student Journey with AND Here
Why Choose AND Academy & Next Steps
AND Academy fosters design thinking skills in its students by introducing the design process as an integral part of its curriculum. As the design industry continues to evolve, our teaching methods are designed to enable students to adapt to changing trends and future-proof their skills.
Our courses are full-stack and teach you software, design principles, and the design process. AND’s comprehensive design courses come with Placement Support and some even with a Job Guarantee. Check out our course offerings below -
You can also consult our course advisors for more information and to understand if our courses are the right fit for you!
Note: All information and/or data from external sources is believed to be accurate as of the date of publication.
