Developing a personal, documented, repeatable process is a crucial part of learning in design school. I often say that a potential employer will not necessarily hire you for the good work you’ve done. They’ll hire you for the good work you’ll do for them — and the best way for you to show them that you can do this is to show them your process work. After all, when you look at a portfolio, how can you be sure how much of the work came from the student... versus classmates, the instructor, or even the internet*? In most every class we teach, we have students keep a process/sketchbook — and in some classes elevate this to a more annotated version worthy of a place in a portfolio itself.
... A potential employer will not necessarily hire you for the good work you’ve done. They’ll hire you for the good work you’ll do for them — and the best way for you to show them that you can do this is to show them your process work.
(*tip: good process is also the best antidote for a plagiarism charge)
What is Process?
Start by reading the linked PDF and reviewing the examples below.
Note that the examples show a very nice blend of sketches, notes, pictures/printouts. More importantly, note that it is not a repository for printouts only. Think of it as a hotdog. You have a bun, the sausage, and the condiments (mustard, relish, etc). It needs to have all three to be a hotdog. Without the sausage, it's a relish sandwich. Without the bun, it's a mess. Without the mustard, it's a dry, tasteless mass. You process needs to be a blend of:
- Notes: We need to know you're paying attention. Notes are a synthesized version of class content — not just copied class content. Synthesis is the process of taking something in and making it useful to you (like plants take in light to make sugar/food = photosynthesis). It's great, too, when we see you code-switching. I can't read Korean or Hindi, but a love to see dual language process books. It's a very special and unique kind of thinking. Use it to your advantage if you can.
- Sketches: We're visual people. I often say: "If you can't diagram it, you probably can't explain it very well in words either". This is also a brainstorming mantra at IDEO: "Draw it out," we used to say. Sketches are visual notes, doodles, drawings... ideas made visual through creative synthesis. You don't have to be DaVinci, but you have to try.
- Pulls/Outcomes: In the processional world, things you find (pictures, illustrations, etc) are often called "pulls" (i.e.: you've pulled them from the outside world). Outcomes are the results of your design work — and in our case, these are often printouts.
In other words: printouts without the notes and sketches is essentially your recycling bin glued into a book — that's not good. Notes without sketches or printouts is a diary — and that's weird. Sketches without notes or pulls is a sketchbook — which is not what we're after. Include all three elements.
Please ensure you get the required sketchbook for your Process Journal. There are two options: Hardbound and Wirebound.
- Start with the cover and inside pages (with your name on them): Cover to cover over the semester.
- Each week, you are required to show a minimum of 3 spreads (6 pages) — more is great. Show it all — every page. Don't edit anything. We like to see mistakes, emotion, different thinking styles, different languages, etc.
- Process must be an even mix of notes, sketches/doodles, and printouts — see sample layout and examples of good process below.
[A typical layout of pages]
Comments