Research – The Second Step in the Design Process

Why is Research so Important to Graphic Designers? 

Why is research such an important part of being a Graphic Designer? At its core, Graphic Design is about Communicating a Message.  

While designers are still artist, where they differ is the purpose of their art. In traditional art mediums such as sculpting, drawing, painting or writing, the goal of the art piece is to express an emotion or to illustrate the artist’s perspective on a topic. That type of art is typically based on personal expression and emotion. Designers on the other hand are typically creating with the express intent to say something. They typically use their art as a second mouth.  

That’s why in Graphic Design, research is such a crucial step. 

How to Research as a Graphic Designer? 

Utilizing your Clients 

The client that hired you could be an asset in directing where your research may lead. While it is crucial for designers to research and operate independently, starting off by picking the brain of your client. Someone who has expertise in the field you’re designing for, their competitors and their target market could save you time and them money.  

Research Beyond the  Client

While a client can provide a great baseline and new avenues for further research, there is also quite a lot they can’t tell you.  

Things like emerging trends, what customer needs are being overlooked and what opportunities are not being taken advantage of are all examples of common gaps independent research could fill.  

But How Exactly do Designers Fill Those Gaps?  

By looking into it. To better understand and predict emerging trends, designers should have a good understanding of current trends. They should also stay up to date on what is and isn’t doing well with the general market. Pushing it further, they may explore the greater field or the target audiences they’re designing for.

Staying up to date on current events, market trends and economic happenings that affect both their target audience and the greater population can also provide valuable insight.  

At the end of the day, a well rounded and well informed designer can make more informed and intentional choices than one who isn’t. 

Searching Beyond the Big Three 

Pinterest, social media and Google are any young designer’s immediate first thoughts when looking to start the research step of the design process. But stopping there often leaves so much information on the table.  Collaborating with colleagues, fellow designers, and reading all give deeper and more diverse avenues to success.  

As Graphic Designers there is one key thing to remember when tackling research. “A design can only be as good as the information that backs it up”.  

If we break down the field of Graphic Design into its two main goals, they would be a. Solve a Problem and b. Communicate a Message. Both of which require a Target Audience. I briefly went over the Target Audience in my previous post; The Creative Brief. But let’s explore that a little more.  

What is the Target Audience? 

I like to think of the Target Audience like the “true clients” of a design. To best illustrate this thought, lets use an example.

Say I am creating a promotional ad for Porter Airlines. I may be communicating with and being paid by Porter, but who I’m actually designing for is their target audience. The success of my design hinges on whether or not I am able to effectively communicate to their target audience. As a designer I am illustrating how choosing to fly with Porter will solve make travel more desirable.

The Art of Field Research

In my previous post; The Creative Brief, I outlined what information I personally look for when examining the target audience. One of the main themes I kept references was the idea of “go deeper”. Which is the exact same message I bring to the research phase.  

The best research does not always happen in an office, boardroom, or behind a screen. Sometimes, the best way to research is to get immersive. Field research is becoming more and more of a lost art as the internet and tailored algorithms grow. But it is such a vital tool for designers.  

Say for example we have been hired to create the brand identity for a brand-new yogurt company. Sites like Pinterest are great for showing off what other artists and AI have done with that challenge. But that’s not where the yogurt actually lives. It lives in the real world, on the yogurt shelf, squished between dozens of other flavors and brands. So why would we waste the opportunity to physically go to the grocery store and research from there.  

If we have the mindset of the target market, we can physically interact with the competition from that lens. We can see what kinds of colors/textures/imagery stand out and what gaps exist. More than that, we can get a good understanding of what lighting and display would look like for our design. In the case of the yogurt company, we may want something eye catching and bright so we can see it down the aisle. Alternatively the target market and the brand’s competitors may have exhausted the brights but lack another design element we can include to make the yogurt stand out.  

Final Thoughts on Researching

Knowing how to research effectively can take a project to the next level. And the more informed a designer is, the more valuable and intentional their work becomes.