2.2 Design Research and Concept Generation

Defining Design Problem Parameters

Many designers define communication design as a problem-solving process. (The problem/opportunity is how to deliver information effectively to the desired audience.) The process that takes the designer from the initial stages of identifying a communication problem to the final stage of solving it covers a lot of ground, and different models can be used to describe it. Some are very complicated, and some are simple. The following sections break the design problem-solving process into four steps: (1) define, (2) research, (3) develop concepts, and (4) implement solutions.