Methodology

iarte takes an multi-disciplinary approach to design drawing on social as well as visual research methods and client participation in the creative process. Although, our methodology is flexible enough to meet the needs of our clients, there are generally three stages: 1) Initial research, 2) Concept development and testing, and 3) Production. The exact mix of research, creative, and production stages varies with the scope and needs of each project but in general, the following concepts apply to our methodology.

Design for the audience.

Imagine if Coca-Cola or Nike based its design strategy on what colors their CEOs liked on their office walls or the fabric of their curtains. Obviously not, right? Well... its not so obvious in the public interest sector. Many of today's progressive designers are still simply designing what the client 'likes', producing eye-catching designs that showcase the designer's style rather than focus on how design works as a communication tool. So what's wrong with this? ...it makes it hard to move beyond the personal tastes of both designer and client.

Take a multi-disciplinary approach to design.

The sensibility to the study of cultures and the anthropological methodology of participant observation and field research are incorporated into an audience-driven design approach that generally involves content creation through field work. With each project, we seek to generate a visual vocabulary that includes material culture research, photography and illustration. Often the best visual content can be obtained from the constituencies themselves.

Good design is a method.

Using a scientific approach implies making a hypothesis, or taking a guess, as to how a solution to a problem is likey to work and then testing it to see if it actually works. Apply this to design and you have an audience-driven methodology. This is the way we do it.

What the heck is audience-driven design anyway?

Audience driven design is simply design that is tested by a sample audience as part of the creative process. Doing research in this way ensures that a strategy is successful, not just pleasing to the client and no, it doesn't have to be expensive. With the active participation of our clients, audience testing of design concepts is readily integrated into the creative process providing a testing ground and sounding board for each project. The old adage of "we can't afford research" should be laid to rest: Putting time and resources into research upfront and throughout the creative process actually saves money in the long run by eliminating a lot of guess work, creative energy diffused by multiple divergent concepts, and endless rounds of revisions, not to mention that with research, you end up with a strategy that you know will work.

Involve the client in the creative process.

Thinking of redoing that legacy logo from the 80s? Let's play! No seriously, the value of play has been shown to increase the brain's creative capacity and we understand that tapping into the subconscious is key to sucessful visual communication ...we will be watching closely, asking lots of questions and bringing you into the process. It's a methodology we call "participant design."

Love what you got and always tell the truth!

As we are constantly bombarded with fake, posed, and stereotypical images of people and reality by the design mainstream, we make it a point to use art and photography that depicts the social, ethnic, and cultural diversity of our environment. This means you will be hard pressed to find too many stock images or clip art, or idealized imagery in our work. We work best when we work with reality than when we try to recreate something that merely tries to look like it.