How Do We Design At Thinkpot

It all starts with an idea! On an average one has several thousands of thoughts daily. One could be thinking about work, life, partners, family, money, just to name a few. But then amongst all this daily noise, there are a few ideas that stay, they are not yet tangible, you can almost feel it, but it has not taken the physical form yet, at least not until you use design to transpire it. That is the importance of design, as it becomes the tool used to transpire an idea into shape and translate it from one’s mind into a physical form and accessible to a larger audience.

Design can be defined in many ways and design is not limited to a single right definition. It is subjective to individuals, to different forms of its practices for ex: graphic design, art, photography, industrial design, fashion design, web design, and many more.

We at Thinkpot like to use Graphic Design to inspire and motivate you everyday. Our Design process is fairly simple and here is a step-by-step guide just for you. Again this is one process used by us amongst the many so you many use it as a guide but since it is a creative process, feel free to tweak, edit or make it yours!

1. Choose a product.
2. R&D that product across Indian brands as well as international brands.
3. Study current trends and understand what might work on your product.
4. Step 2 and 3 helps you open your creative mind and you start paying attention to several possibilities. Often you will find yourself waking up thinking about it, when you are out you might end up being inspired by daily things that you see differently, a lyric in a song that you have heard a 100 times might suddenly inspire you. So your step 4 would be to keep a notebook and pen wherever you go if you are the old fashioned traditional type, or alternatively take photos or notes on your phone. We tend do both!
5. Step 5 is the essential step where you start sifting through your ideas and notes and start to view things from a practical perspective and see what might or might not work for the product. Here you could have a brilliant idea, but to your dismay it just doesn’t work for the product. Don’t forget to save it as it might come in handy on a later day.
6. Start putting the design together.
7. Use resources available to you and use them best to manage your time. Sometimes there are plenty of free resources available so you could use them if you are running out of time. But do note here, if using free resources, do not forget to edit and change it to make it unique to you. Use all forms of mediums, from sketching and doodling to digital design.
   
8. Understand the different mediums you want to use to execute your design. For example if you want to use different techniques of print, digital print, foil print, emboss, etc, design keeping that in mind. Use them to your advantage.
9. Always design more than you need, for ex: if you need 10 designs to go on a notebook, design at least 12. The reason to create extra designs is because some designs might look good on your computer screen, but once printed and sampled, might not quite get the effect you intended.
10. Always print to size and sample designs in colour variants when possible.
11. Next comes the selection process, get a few opinions especially from both genders. Accommodate suggestions as much as possible, but if you feel that you have something that you know will work, stick to it, as it might be extra ordinary.
12. Make sure that the designs chosen have not been done before and make sure they are not a copy. There is a delicate line in being inspired and a flat copy, especially if you are using current trends.
13. Make edits and final changes.
14. Send for production.
15. If possible do check the first piece fresh out of the oven before the rest of the production begins. This would help rectify mistakes that you might have missed earlier.
16. If everything is ok, here is where you hand over the production to the Quality Check team.

So here is a basic step-by-step guide to our design process. Our aim is to use Design to add a happy product to your daily life. Design helps us connect with you. We hope that one word, a colour, an element, an idea that has been translated using design gets you smiling and helps you get inspired. That is the importance of Design at Thinkpot.

Written By : Sneha Kakad
Founder - Thinkpot