Process can be a dirty word to some creative types. For designers, whose job is to turn amorphous ideas into physical existence, the process can be an artistic one. But even artists must admit, there is a method to the madness. In A Technique for Producing Ideas, James Webb Young describes “the production of ideas is just as definite a process as the production of Fords… the mind follows an operative technique which can be learned and controlled.” Just as luck rarely comes to the unprepared, great design never happens in pure disorder.
I love process. My leadership style is The Processor. Naturally, since the start of my career, I was obsessed with researching the best creative methods and refining my design process. Not only has this led to better work, but also easier collaboration because process allows you to repeat success and scale. My creative workflow is a series of thoughts and actions that I call the Three Hats of the Design Process. Why hats you ask? Different phases of the design process require you to outfit a different state of mind. I’ll be walking you through my design process with a series of activities (in bold) and questions (in italics) as we put on the three hats: Detective Hat, Artist Hat, and Scientist Hat.
