5.2.3 Workflow

Part 1: Reflect

What parts of your practice make you feel most engaged and creative?

I feel most engaged and creative when I am exploring visual media and sources online. I like to engage with photography a lot outside of University work, as I feel most creative working with my own imagery.

When do you ‘actually’ feel like you’re designing?

I feel like I am ‘designing’ when I am curating work together, when I have the ideas out in front of me, and I am laying them out. When I am developing work, refining it, adding details and art-working.

What pain points do you identify in your own workflow?

Pain points in my workflow would definitely be initial iterations and ideas. I can struggle to approach and begin projects with strategy and a framework. My work can be very process-led, so I sometimes don't actually start to see ideas come to fruition effectively until later stages of a project. I also do not like writing about my work as writing is not a strong suit for me and something which disinterests me.

What tasks or steps feel like obstacles to designing?

My energy dips when I am struggling with an idea/being too picky. It can be demotivating and annoying. I also get slowed down by annotation and reflection. This is often left to the last minute and can be a struggle.

Part 2: Research Tools

What tools, techniques, or strategies did you find in your research?

I think a file management software would assist my initial planning stage and help me organise ideas better. I would also like to get into a better habit of not jumping straight onto the computer and playing around with physical things in order to generate better more original ideas.

How could these be integrated into your practice?

These could be integrated into the start of my practice, having better file management and organization of ideas is something i need to do throughout and having a calendar to keep track of projects would be very beneficial to my practice.

Part 3: Question

I believe AI tools are still in a very experimental stage and are welcomed by some and shunned by others. AI can be a touchy conversation for designers but there are definitely pros to its usage, especially in more mundane tasks, like organization and assistance for tasks. However, when used creatively, it can become more controversial. For designers it could assist their work while still keeping it their own, e.g. Paula Scher's US government AI symbols. This is a great example of the balance when using AI, the creativity still lies within the design, it was just composed by AI in order to save time and create continuity. AI is still fairly new and will only improve more, so for the designer it needs to be accepted like any other new piece of technology. While it will replace a lot of lower end graphic design work, new movements will come through that incorporate it as a tool. Like any other technology, when abused the work will still look worse than a more thought out and crafted piece, and that is where designers need to find the balance of its use.