The Design Process - Production

Finally made it to the last stage of The Design Process by Karl Aspelund, stage seven, in which he discusses production. This is the final step in polishing your idea before you get to present it to the intended audience. Though it may be the last step, it doesn’t necessarily mean that you are done. If all the previous six steps were done effectively than things should go smoothly at the end.

In the production stage Aspelund discusses that the designers need to be a team leader and a team player with the production team. Accepting that you are not always correct is important to work in a team as a team leader. It is also trivial to accept all the members for what they can and cannot do, because at the end of the day they are ones finishing the job. One of the processes that goes into production is prototyping in which you make a 3D visual aid to asses if this is the finish product that you wanted. In the prototype stage you test various aspects of your ideas. There are three types of prototypes; concept prototype, throwaway prototype, and evolutionary prototype. At each prototype valuable feedback is given to benefit the three-dimensional object, which is the main purpose of doing a prototype before a mass production.

Money makes the world go round, and while working on projects the amount of money that you use has to be used in small doses. Taking into consideration all cost and leaving room for errors can be very difficult at times, but with budgeting and scheduling decisions on what to spend money on can be considered wisely. As it is in all experiences in life, learn from your mistakes in each project so that you can become a better graphic designer in the next one.