In graphic design, the creative process is a series of steps aimed at transforming abstract ideas into functional, relevant, and lasting visual products.
A design project is not, by any means, limited to a mere technical execution; it’s a complex journey—a process—that encompasses several stages. At Buenaventura, we identify three core stages: analysis, conceptualization, and formalization.
While these phases may be more or less standardized, the creative process remains a dynamic mechanism that varies depending on different factors.
Each project—each creative process—adds to a body of experience, enabling the designer to develop the capacity to connect knowledge and shape their own creative path.
Analysis is the starting phase of any project. To approach it effectively, it’s essential to gain in-depth knowledge to truly understand the essence of each concept, product, or brand.
A systematic, thorough, and wide-ranging analysis is crucial because its results lay the groundwork for the rest of the project. The conclusions we reach can open many doors. A discovery, a detail—no matter how small—can be key to determining the direction forward.
Once we have completed or nearly completed the analysis phase, we can begin the conceptualization phase. During this process, some detachment from external references proves fruitful, as it prevents contamination that could lead to excessive alignment with dominant trends. The breadth of references a designer handles is directly proportional to the depth and strength of the design’s concept, but these references should operate in the background, transformed into knowledge—what we call personal experience.
Interwoven with these phases, as an inseparable part of the creative process, is a delicate concept: inspiration.
Does inspiration exist? Yes, but as experts like Pablo Picasso, Milton Glaser, and Paula Scher have shown, inspiration is work. An artist, designer, or musician is always in their element, 24 hours a day, because it’s not a nine-to-five job but a way of being in the world.
Buenaventura’s headquarters being in Loja, a small town in Granada province, is more than a geographical fact—it’s a declaration of intent. The rural environment provides a lifestyle that permeates our way of working, giving rise to Buenaventura’s natural, essential, transparent, and rigorous style.
Creativity, understood as the ability to produce original, functional, and purpose-driven design pieces, is grounded in the designer’s body of knowledge. But it’s not only knowledge about design specifically. For an observant designer, inspiration can arise anywhere or in any situation.
When we at Buenaventura analyze the inspiring origins of each project, we notice the diversity of circumstances that led us to each solution.
Between the needs of each specific project and Buenaventura’s own style lies a happily undefined area that we can call creativity. In our case, the creative process doesn’t have a clear beginning and end; it’s more a way of being and seeing the world through a particular lens.
Finally, we arrive at the formalization phase—the moment to give visual shape to the idea we have been developing.
It is the concept that sustains and brings life to the form.
Ana Moliz
Art Director. Buenaventura.
