Abby - Design Process

“For individuals who are neither designers nor artists, it may seem like those who are, use a lot of smoke and mirrors, magically whipping up each stunning creation. Artistic talent and creativity can certainly aid and enhance the final result, but design, in particular, generally follows a process. Each designer — or design group — develops a method for solving problems, then evolves that method over time.”

From an article by Douglas Bowman from Stop Design



http://www.stopdesign.com/articles/design_process/

“For the Garden design, I began by studying the content (text) of the existing page, making a model in my head of the document flow and hierarchy. I aggregated the sections of the page into logical groupings and assigned each a priority. I also spent time thinking about the purpose of the project. “

 
Douglas Bowman

The method used by David Bowman follows these steps: Research and discovery, competitive analysis, exploration, thumbnail sketching, Typography, Imagery, Composition, Execution & Implementation.

http://www.stopdesign.com/log/2003/05/27/in_the_garden.html

http://www.csszengarden.com/?cssfile=017/017.css

“Jumping into any design project before examining the problem or task at hand might spin the wheels, but won’t get you very far. Any project, no matter how big or small, can benefit from research and planning before the work begins. Design is no exception. If discovery begins before the exploration commences, the probability of finding a successful direction for the project only increases.“
I agree with Douglas Bowman because I think it is good and important to follow a step by step process as a guide to make design easy.