Importance of Research in Design

Research before design is extremely important. Jumping in without any thought can make for ineffective designs, and a lot of the time it shows.

Three big things that I focus my research on when doing a projects is Audience, Content, and Style.

Your work will always be seen by someone, but that someone depends on what it is used for and where it is shown. For example, if it was to be shown on a children's channel, then it must be suitable for children, and something like Adult Swim would not show CBeebies-esque work. Your audience informs both your style and content, though sometimes one of these can be less aimed at the audience if the other makes sure to concentrate on it - you could have adult content, in a childish design, like South Park, which is effective because of just how much the content is relied on and where/when the animation is shown.

By content, when talking about character design, I am talking about what it is that you are designing -  a character from a certain setting, or culture. For example, if you were to design characters from a Roman setting, but not research it at all then you would mostly likely end up with some crude, stereotypical designs that more than likely would not stand out from the next guy doing Roman designs. Historical accuracy makes for more effective, coherent designs - and you might find something different that other people don't use much but that works really well.

Especially for more sophisticated or complex projects, historical research can go a long way to make sure that your designs are competent and interesting. Claire Hummel, character designer on Bioshock Infinite posted some advice about researching on her Tumblr;

ADVICE FOR RESEARCHING HISTORICAL FASHION

• Read, and read about more than just costuming.  Allowing yourself to understand the cultural and historical context surrounding the clothing of a particular region/period can be invaluable in sussing out good costume design.  Looking at pictures is all well and good, but reading about societal pressures, about construction techniques, daily routines, local symbolism, whatever else will really help you understand the rhyme and reason behind costuming from any given context.

• Expand your costume vocabulary.  When you’re delving into a new topic, costuming or otherwise, picking up new terminology is essential to proper understanding and furthering your research.  Write down or take note of terms as you come across them- google them, look up synonyms, and use those words as a jumping off point for more research.  What’s a wire rebato?  How does it differ from a supportasse?  Inquiring minds want to know.

• Double-check your sources.  Especially on the internet, and double especially on tumblr.  I love it, but it’s ground zero for rapidly spreading misinformation.  Books are usually your safest bet, but also take into account their date of publication, who’s writing them- an author’s biases can severely mangle their original source material.

• Don’t be afraid to ask for help.  Do everything you can to find out information on your own, but feel free to reach out to people with more specialized areas of knowledge for help!  Be considerate about it- the people you’re asking are busy as well- but a specific line of questioning that proves you’re passionate and that you respect their subject matter expertise can work wonders.

When it comes to Style, research really depends on the project. For some people, their own style is fine, and they will continue to stick to that. Other places have a house style, and they will be looking for other people who can imitate that. For example, a lot of Disney's artists use styles similar to Glen Keane and Jim Kim (most probably because that is a preferred style at CalArts, where a great deal of their newer employees come from). Cartoon Network also has noticeable styles (although this is in part because of the fact that a lot of their biggest hits were created by them same person, but using styles that do incorporate bold colours, lines and shapes are what they prefer, and what appeal to their audience much more. That isn't to say that you can't ever push the boat out and do something completely different, but different audiences require different things and it is always worth paying attention to what sort of style is popular to a specific audience.

Another thing to consider is the medium in which these designs will be used; animation, on a whole, uses much less detailed designs than games or comics. With animators have to animate so many frames in 2D, many details would take so much longer to do. In games or 3D animation, a 3D model will be made and the details will not have to be repeated as the character is animated, and it would generally take much less time to animate the details that may move.

Rules can always be broken, and sometimes great character design can come from that. Overall though, being informed and knowing what it is that you are designing and who it is that will be viewing your work is always a great idea, and should be a very important consideration for your designs.