“Ahh that would make a great stationery design!”
These are usually the words exclaimed by one of us when we see something that REALLY inspires us. We could pretend we always know what we are doing and every design starts out carefully planned, based on research and trends. Well…It doesn’t. Most of the time our designs our inspired by something we’ve seen while out and about. The moment of ‘I really like that idea’ is quickly followed by a flurry of photographs and some scribbled sketches which sometimes don’t even reach our sketchbooks. Our design process rarely starts out structured and is more just a case of impromptu inspiration, nevertheless we do have a few steps that are generally the same each time. Here we’ll use our little piglet design as an example to guide you through our process.
Initially the first step is to simply get the idea down – no matter how scruffy, messy and rough the sketch is. At this stage it doesn’t matter how pretty it looks it is more of a matter of making sure we’re both on the same page (so to speak!).That way we know what we need from each other during the design process. From here we are able to come up with a few different design ideas and layouts that we can discuss and decide on the what we like best. Or even suggest anything we think might work better before agreeing on a final idea.
The next part of the process is to actually complete the artwork. We use a variety of different media’s to create our designs. In the case of the piglets we had decided on watercolour. So the design was transferred onto watercolour paper and then painted. While this part may sound simple it’s actually the hardest usually taking multiple sittings and a lot of concentration. At this stage we then usually ‘sit’ with the design for day or two, looking back at it while we complete our other work. This way we get to spot anything that might need changing before it is fully completed.
Once happy with the design it is transferred on to the computer where it is cropped and positioned on to whatever stationery products we have in mind. Sometimes we have an idea of how it should look, other times it is more an experimental excersise until we get it right! However it works though, it is often one of the most exciting parts as you finally get to an idea of what your design will look like on an actual product. If needed this is also the part where text is added. When we are happy with how things look, we take another ‘step back’. Taking a fresh look the following day often irons out any little issues we may have missed. Once any issues have been corrected, thats it! Well sort of….. the products have to be then printed, packaged, photographed and then uploaded to our online shops ready for our customers to purchase.
This is only general outline of the way we work. Often our design process takes us in a direction we weren’t expecting. Even if it doesn’t work out though, it doesn’t matter. It is only through discovering what won’t work that we find something that does. Artists and designers work in many different ways and it’s about finding what works best for you.
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