2.5 Develop Concepts
Alex Hass
Step 3: Developing Concepts
Concept development is a process of developing ideas to solve specified design problems. The concepts are developed in phases, from formless idea to precise message in an appropriate form with supportive visuals and content. Once you have done your research and understand exactly what you want to achieve and why, you are ready to start working on the actual design. Ideally, you are trying to develop a concept that provides solutions for the design problem, communicates effectively on multiple levels, is unique (different and exciting), and stands out from the materials produced by your client’s competitors.
Generate, test, and refine ideas
A good design process is a long process. Designers spend a great deal of time coming up with ideas; editing, revising, and refining them; and then evaluating their results every time they try something. Good design means assessing every concept for effectiveness.
The design process looks roughly like this:
- Generating a concept
- Refining ideas through visual exploration
- Preparing rough layouts detailing design direction(s)
- Setting preliminary specifications for typography and graphic elements such as photography, illustration, charts or graphs, icons, or symbols
- Presenting design brief and rough layouts for client consideration
- Refining design and comprehensive layouts, if required
- Getting client approval of layouts and text before the next phase
Developing Effective Concepts
A concept is not a message. A concept is an idea that contextualizes a message in interesting, unique, and memorable ways through both form and design content.
A good concept reinforces strategy and brand positioning. It helps to communicate the benefits of the offer and helps with differentiation from the competition. It must be appropriate for the audience, facilitating communication and motivating that audience to take action.
A good concept provides a foundation for making visual design decisions. For example, Nike’s basic message, expressed by its tagline, is “Just Do It.” The creative concept Nike has used since 1988 has been adapted visually in many ways, but always stays true to the core message by using images of individuals choosing to take action.
“It was a simple thing,” Wieden recalls in a 2009 Adweek video interview in which he discusses the effort’s genesis. Simplicity is really the secret of all “big ideas,” and by extension, great slogans. They must be concisely memorable, yet also suggest something more than their literal meanings. Rather than just putting product notions in people’s minds, they must be malleable and open to interpretation, allowing people of all kinds to adapt them as they see fit, and by doing so, establish a personal connection to the brand (Gianatasio, 2013).
A good concept is creative, but it also must be appropriate. The creativity that helps develop effective, appropriate concepts is what differentiates a designer from a product