HOW IT ALL HAPPENS
All of my design projects have been creatively directed, thoroughly researched, and personally conceptualized. Then brought to life through my own design, strategizing, writing, building, programming, and illustrations. This five step process has helped me become a clearer and more efficient designer.
My process will be explained though the context of my F1 Grand Prixe de Senegal project.
Whispering.
Between my never ending Notebook of ideas and my mind constantly thinking of ideas, it takes a lot of first round exploration to pick a project. Questions like; does something like this already exist? If it does what can I do to make it different? Can I bring my own sense of personality to it? And, what will this look like in the end?
The Grand Prixe de Senegal came from a combination of passion and experience. I’m a huge Formula 1 fan that was frustrated with the lack of racing happening in Africa. From there, I used my personal experience of living in Senegal to map out how I can marry the luxe racing culture of Formula 1 with the vibrant and historic country of Senegal.
Talking.
Getting familiar is one of the most important parts of a project to me. Passion can only come from a deep understanding. This can come from multiple different types of research.
With the Grand Prixe de Senegal project, I went in multiple directions of research. Looking at the history of F1 and where races have taken place, texting my friends back in Senegal about what they would like highlighted about their country, and of course watching the races every weekend, taking note of what makes a race unique.
Shouting.
This is when a project gets dirty. Getting into the nitty gritty of the internals of project and how to connect the research into intentional means. The most important part of this numbers. Either logos, names, or packaging design, variety is the most important. Start with 100 options, narrow down to the best 10, and perfect the final 1.
All of the Grand Prixe means got this treatment. From patterns used, to the campaign writing, everything got dirty.
Yelling.
Nothing stays dirty for too long. This is when everything gets buttoned up. Decisions are made and final versions are produced. Just final tweaks are being made.
Last run throughs of the Grand Prixe website, attaching paddock passes to lanyards, and final edits to the campaign writing. Making sure everything is as tied up.
Saying it with my chest.
Setting my work up for how its going to be viewed is one of the most important steps in selling a good product. May it be on the final presentation table at finals or how the project flows on my website, the unique story of the project must hold its integrity.