When you get the time to sit with designers here at Aqua, you use that opportunity. After chatting with Dane Bowen for a couple of minutes, I found his thoughts to be insightful, and they gave me a better understanding of his role and design in general. 

He gave me an inside look at his process… 

Understand the Elements, collating one's graphic elements together informs your design process. Once a designer has outlined the intended outcome for the design, the overall look and feel will naturally evolve from it. Designers always try to take the user on a journey into a world they're creating by picking out the elements that create it, from the cityscapes to the terrain the buildings grew from. 

Keeping these elements in mind, one can create a poster design, showcasing this world. Iconography and typography might be added to highlight the overarching message a designer wants to portray.

From a web project point of view, one might think this is a waste of time, but it's a great frame of reference when putting together a website or application. One needs to incorporate that same look and feel across the platform when designing.

Colour is a big part of any design, especially on the web: each colour, and combination of colours, has a meaning behind it that affects the human psyche.

For example, orange showcases enthusiasm, cheerfulness, affordability, stimulation and creativity, and is highly accepted among a younger demographic.

Taking all of this into consideration when deciding on colours, especially when picking out one for the call to action areas, some colours may entice people to click and navigate through the site more than others.  

User Experience, possibly the number 1 rule for design is; one tries to lead users down a path but still give them the freedom to browse. Allowing banners on a site to compete with one another and distract users from the content at hand will just aggravate users and give them an exit first approach.

The Technology. While creating a user journey or page layouts, one needs to constantly search the web for reference on what can or cannot be done. The last thing you want to have happen is to create an incredible site that will eventually get watered down due to the incapability of technology. 

Danes Mantra: Think with your head in the clouds but still keep your feet on the ground.

K.I.S.S. Be simple, be social: don't make them think. Engage them!

So in Conclusion…

What's The Big Idea? Uncovering what is entrenched behind a design ethos is the only way to represent the true meaning behind a design. We always ask, "What's the big idea?" There is a saying about two heads, and when approaching any project, this cliché has never rung more true.

Brain storms are not just scenes from Mad Men; they're people testing ideas and collaborating to create the greater path for a specific project.

After chatting to Dane, I now know that design is more than just pixels, and have now been invited into a world where people research for inspiration; it's reading and working towards a commonality between the designer and his audience.

Over the last decade, there has been a drastic change around design, especially within digital platforms. Web and interactive design is not just about the pretty picture or slapping a couple of graphics together and then figuring out where the content can squeeze in. 

Sure, it looks cool, but no one is looking to decipher your hieroglyphics.

People enjoy a systematic approach, and Dane has that approach!

*Dane Bowen is a junior Art Director at Aqua and has a hairstyle that competes with even the fiercest of porcupines. He also plays golf and enjoys long walks on the beach.