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Chapter 1
- Concepts
- Researching
- Information
- Forms
- Approaches
- Methodologies
- Processes
This chapter introduces research methodologies and creative processes.
Looking Broadly
Every day we use a variety of methods and processes to accomplish daily tasks and ensure desired results. At the grocery store, for example, we may carry a list of needed items, go through the aisles in a chosen order, and check our receipts on the way out. Such steps are led by a point of view, guided by experience, and often applied subconsciously.
Similar to developing routines and approaches that help us in our everyday lives, becoming familiar with and fluent in graphic design methods and processes can help us solve design problems. Each design problem is unique, yet related to other visual systems and to society at large. Competency in a range of approaches is required to inspire viewers and users effectively and to guide their responses.
Research
In the broadest sense, research is the search for knowledge and advancement in a deliberate and engaged, if not systematic, manner.
Epistemology
This branch of philosophy studies knowledge, questioning what it is and how it is acquired.
Information
Gathering information and making sense of it are critical to leading a fulfilled life. Ways of gaining information can be organized into two primary groups.
Experiencing, Doing, and Sharing
This grouping describes learning from the accumulation of direct experience of participating and doing, including sharing knowledge with others. Traveling to a new place and telling stories about your experiences is one example.
Observing, Listening, and Reflecting
This grouping describes an active search for knowledge outside your immediate experiences, analyzing that knowledge, and perhaps testing it. Reading about a place where you've never been and discussing it with others who have been there is one example.
Learning by Doing
This theory refers to gaining knowledge through practice, by repeating a set or sets of actions to improve the outcome over time.
Forms
Given the complexity of contemporary design problems, research forms are often applied in combination.
Ethnography
Employed in advertising and some forms of persuasive graphic design such as identity design, ethnography involves the observation of a cultural group and analysis and interpretation of the group's patterns.
Experimental
This form of research is based on experimentation with select variables such as font size or weight. It is used throughout virtually all design activities.
Research Forms
Dominant research forms used in graphic design include the following:
- Case study (description and analysis of an activity)
- Ethnography (interpretation of a cultural group)
- Experimental (experimentation with select variables)
- Narrative (understanding individual experiences)
- Phenomenology (understanding the essence of experiences)
Approaches
Information can be acquired in a multitud...
