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What's the difference between an arrogant and a confident designer?
Or Traditional and design thinking?
Packaging Design 101: Part 3
Packaging Design 101 is the culmination of weeks of research from a tonne of books, podcasts and blogs with a sprinkling of my own insights and a pinch of experience.
Key takeaway:
Free PDF download.
Don’t forget to check out my article Packaging 101, at the end of the article there’s a mini graduation present, a link to a high-resolution PDF of my nudenotes I made in preparation for writing the blog.
There are no catches, it’s a completely free resource for you to use as a reference whenever you need it.
Packaging Design 101: Part 2
Packaging Design 101 is the culmination of weeks of research from a tonne of books, podcasts and blogs with a sprinkling of my own insights and a pinch of experience.
Key takeaway:
Free PDF download.
Don’t forget to check out my article Packaging 101, at the end of the article there’s a mini graduation present, a link to a high-resolution PDF of my nudenotes I made in preparation for writing the blog.
There are no catches, it’s a completely free resource for you to use as a reference whenever you need it.
Building A Brand x Nudenotes: Episode 2
Building A Brand x Nudenotes: Episode 2, Discovery - Defining the Customer
What is a discovery session?
How do stand out from a crowd?
What questions do you ask a client?
Thanks to The Futur Fam my eyes have been opened to the benefits of a solid discovery session.
Discovery is the foundation on which you build your creative work - it defines every decision you make moving forward.
A discovery session is a facilitated meeting with clients or stakeholders in which you:
Define goals.
Identify pain points.
Identify customer challenges.
Define brand attributes.
The techniques used by Matthew Encina and Ben Burns during this episode will completely change the way you start any design project, exponentially improving the effectiveness of your work.
Design Thinking
Inspired by Unknown.
What is Design Thinking, and how do I get started?
Here’s a six-ingredient recipe to ensure you can cook up some tasty Design Thinking for yourself.
Design Thinking takes a user-centric approach to problem solving.
It's less about traditional objects and visuals, focusing instead on the user’s experience.
This recipe of Design Thinking dates back to the 1960s — it became more mainstream after the IDEO design agency was formed.
Design Thinking is not just for designers!
Everything around us has been designed. So it must be good right?
Thinking like a designer can help you create, innovate, and even lead and manage people.
These six ingredients work together to empower you to create and develop hard hitting solutions that work for you, your team and your client.
I hope this recipe helps you as much as it has helped me!
3 Types of Design Process
Inspired by unknown.
What does your design process look like?
I love a solid creative process - always on the look out for ways to improve. As the old saying goes “work smarter, not harder”.
The actual and ideal design processes, I found on Pinterest post from Crowhop Creative.
The post made me chuckle.
It got me thinking about my dream design process, then I remembered a video from The Futur, in which Chris Do outlined his creative process.
It was amazing, so logical and clear - removing risk, guesswork and surprises. It always delivered.
This is the process I try to emulate now in my own work.
Every project gets me a little bit closer to that dream process.
Thanks, to Master Do for sharing it!
7 Tips to Create Game-Changing Content for Your Business
inspired by a YouTube video by The Futur & Ted Sim
How do you create effective content marketing?
Although I’m not in the business of creating video content (yet!), I found these seven tips really interesting.
Since founding NSC, I’ll definitely use and share these principles wherever I can.
Hopefully these notes inspire you to do the same!
Also, remember this one thing about marketing from Seth Godin:
"It is a chance to serve... Be generous in the act of helping others achieve their goals."
How To Apply What You Learn
inspired by a YouTube video by The Futur
How do you turn knowledge into action, and action into wealth?
In this video Chris Do mentions sketch notes. I like to think he was thinking of my nudenotes…
Learning is the only way to not only survive, but thrive in this crazy ever-changing world of creative business.
The only way to fully understand a subject is to share and teach others about it.
This is one of the reasons I started creating nudenotes and co-founded this website - not only to understand and retain the material better, but to share it with anyone who wants to hear it.
Packaging Design 101: Part 1
Packaging Design 101 is the culmination of weeks of research from a tonne of books, podcasts and blogs with a sprinkling of my own insights and a pinch of experience.
Key takeaway:
Free PDF download.
Don’t forget to check out my article Packaging 101, at the end of the article there’s a mini graduation present, a link to a high-resolution PDF of my nudenotes I made in preparation for writing the blog.
There are no catches, it’s a completely free resource for you to use as a reference whenever you need it.
Mindsets of Design Thinking
Based on a random pin I came across on Pinterest — not sure who to credit!
Design Thinking is one of the reasons that I get up every day.
This explanation of Design Thinking really resonated with me and helps to describe why and how I work the way that I do.
Show, don’t tell: Storytelling using another method. Not just using words, but visual aids, for a more inclusive way of sharing valuable information, whether it’s part of a product’s design, a company’s brand, or even a nudenote.
Radical collaboration: Ultimately, we’re all in this together. To get a more honest, true reaction to design, people need to work on it as a team.
Bias towards action: This is common sense, but so many companies and designers have a tendency to procrastinate and spend too long on projects. Just do.
Mindful process: Engage your brain! Be empathetic and considerate: who are you designing for? What are you trying to achieve? How will you achieve it?
Culture of prototyping: To see whether a design works, it needs to be tested.
Human-centred: Following on from the culture of prototyping, designs need to be tested on people for the most accurate predicted reactions from your audience.
Key takeaway:
Design Thinking is not just a process, its a mindset!
I’m a firm believer that design thinking is not just for creating epic design work, it’s a frame of mind that can change the way you look at the world and how to solve life’s daily problems, no matter the size.
If more of us used these design thinking principles the world would be a happier and more positive place to live in.
Value In Design: Part 2
In part one, I broke ‘value’ down into categories, taking the subjective term of adding value and making it more objective.
In part two, I outline the next steps: creating a value ratio, the impact of design, value engineering and the problem of ‘adding value’.
This should help to improve your ability to discuss and harness the power of value with your own designs, by focusing on values that resonate with your consumers or clients.
Check out the full article here.
Key takeaway:
To add value, you must understand it
Design has a long history of being prompted as ‘adding value’ to a product, but in order achieve this, you must have a clear understanding of value as it is perceived by your consumers.
This will empower you to be more focused and discuss value in an objective way — allowing you to develop ideas and solutions that consumer perceives as more valuable, avoiding extra costs.
Value In Design: Part 1
In the creative business everyone, talks about value.
We all know that values are hooks for potential consumers, but how many of us actually know what value means?
It’s so subjective, right!?
Wrong.
Once you speak the language of value, you can leverage it to create better design solutions and have a happier, smoother design process.
I’ve reworked some old university notes into this breakdown of value.
If you’re intrigued, check out the full article here.
Key takeaway:
Not all values are created equal.
Value is a subjective topic — to make sense of it, you need to have an understanding of value from consumers and user with your creative team.
This empowers you with the insight of knowing what consumers are looking for when making a purchase.
This is the key to making that all-important sale.
The Incomplete Manifesto For Growth
By Bruce Mau
I have to admit that I haven’t actual seen the complete list, only the odd quote.
I’m not sure I entirely agree with all 43 points, but I still found it inspiring.
Once I found these quotes, I fell into a Youtube binge of Bruce Mau interviews and presentations.
I love his holistic approach to design — it’s surprising how relevant it is even after two decades.
Key takeaway:
Think holistically.
When I use to do large-scale life drawings at Art College (1 or 2 metres square), it was common to get focus in on a tiny section of the drawing, getting sucked into it.
It wasn’t until you stood back that you realised that the detail you had spent hours drawing was completely wrong for the overall composition.
Getting a wider perspective on a problem can unlock a deeper issue which would be more deserving of your attention.
Think beyond the problem you are trying to solve, think two or three steps ahead.
What is More Valuable, Questions or Answers?
Inspired by The Futur’s Youtube Video
I managed to escape the festive preparations for an hour on a rainy Saturday morning to level-up with more content from Chris Do (The Futur).
This technique empowers you to respond to any questions your clients may have, by asking questions until the solution or problem becomes clear.
It’s value-adding magic and will turn you into a real problem-solving wizard.
Key takeaway:
Always get clarity!
Chris Do hits the mark again with a super insightful piece of wisdom.
Clarity is the secret ingredient in a smooth design process.
It empowers you to be focused, efficient and, more importantly, effective in your design solutions.
Never stop asking questions — never stop searching for clarity in work.
How To Achieve Design Clarity: LISTEN
Written by Matthew Encina from The Futur on Medium.
There are too many knowledge bombs to count in these nudenotes — how to use questions to gain clarity and get closer to a solution.
Decoding coded language is such an interesting crossroads between psychology and design.
I honestly can’t wait to learn more and put this into practice.
Hopefully, these notes will start me on a journey to become a master design-code-breaker!
Key takeaway:
Clarity. Clarity. Clarity
As Mathew says in his article: “The job of a designer is listen, identify and decode.”
The best way to do this is to actively listen and ask questions that uncover new or hidden insights.
These new clues will build creative parameters that will guide and focus your creative towards a clear goal.