Discipline is doing what you don't wanna do so you can do what you really want to do.
The K.I.S.S. (Keep It Simple, Stupid) principle was pounded into my head in school and I still follow it today in most of my designs. I know that my most successful efforts are the simplest. I always find myself trying to subtract detail from design concepts in an attempt to distill the idea down to the most basic communication tool.
The phrase "corporate identity design" seems to be a bit exclusive it sometimes frightens the smaller client who can't relate because they don't consider themselves "corporate."
My kids are athletic, but they don't run.
External research never depends on the size of the payment being received it is primarily determined by what is needed to create the best possible solution to the client's desires and requirements. The research required is also dependent upon the specific project or industry.
For me, between "Reference" and "Sketching & Conceptualizing" is the "Get the Hell Out of the Studio" step. I most often NEED to shut off the computer, push myself back from my desk and escape the studio space to let possible ideas percolate in my gray matter before committing anything to paper or digital imagery as a sketch or a concept.
Really successful designs can be created without software produced "special effects." Identities do not NEED bevels, gradations, 3-D imagery, Web 2.Oh-Oh and other oh so "special" treatments to be great design solutions for clients.
As designers we are influenced both consciously and subconsciously by everything we see around ourselves. Still, we always must try to avoid anything that has been defined as the latest and greatest "trend" in design.
Graphic design was largely about communication in an artistic or creative manner, much like writing is used to convey ideas. Many designers completely miss that aspect of the "art." Some are completely satisfied with just making things pretty, without taking the communication element into consideration.
A successful solution to the client's design needs requires a collaboration of my skills, talents and knowledge with the client's information base, history in their industry and personality.
