Mural Design: A Creative Process
wall Mural Design for a Small Juice Bar in Atlanta: A Creative Process
I recently had the honor of designing a mural for a small juice bar in Atlanta. Having designed many graphics but nothing to this scale before I was ready for the challenge. Also, he was willing to give me lots of creative freedom. We decided that the design should be organic, and represent a juice bar but not scream ‘juice bar.’ This was achieved and as a whole, we are telling a story for his customers.
The mural is made up of five key elements. Two parts include fruits and one uses green to represent the greens we eat. These sections were inspired by the fruits themself. I wanted to create something that was both beautiful, functional, and abstract. Next the mural has a series of tropical leaves, there are a total of three. They provide balance to the overall wall mural and represent the different leafy greens. Finally, the last part is the tagline, ‘keep it Wholesum.’ This was included to inspire customers and remind them of the importance of taking care of their bodies.
TELLING A StoRY
As a graphic designer, I feel it is my job to tell a story. I tell the story through visual art. Having the opportunity to tell that story on a large scale was both exciting and unique for me as a small business owner. My design work is usually focused on artwork, patterns, logo design, brand design, and websites. I am happy to add wall murals to that list now. Mural design is such a creative outlet for me and I look forward to my next freelance project.
Check out more of my work and story telling visual art on Instagram.
8 step design process
The process for design projects of this type, really all my design studio projects, looks like this:
1 - Creative Brief
Time to iscuss the purpose and expectations of the design. What does the client want out of the project and what is their main objective? This becomes the design brief for the project. It will also include company information, brand guidelines, and any other relative company information.
2 - Proposal
Next, I put together the mural proposal or design proposal, depending on the project. A conversation has to happen first before that proposal can be provided. If you, as the client, just ask how much it will cost and no discussion occurred that project is already open to miscommunication.
3 - Idea generation
The proposal is signed, the deposit received, and idea generation can begin!! It is now time for preliminary visual exploration. This is one of my favorite parts as I do, thorough research and source inspiration. Sometimes I may even need to explore their competitors' work and the company's target audience. It really is a brainstorming session. For this project, I looked up ideas on interior wall design, exterior wall design, mural art, custom wall mural, and many more topics.
4 - Sketching
Sketching time! No matter how large or small the project I begin with a few rough ideas. I will keep this to around two to three ideas. For this custom mural project, I provided four ideas because one of the sketches had two options to it. Creative people can get carried away sometimes. 😊 At this time I bring these ideas to the client, we discuss them, and I let them decide on one of the options to refine. It is their time to provide feedback and let me know of any other ideas they had. They need to be in agreement with the design and make sure there isn't anything missing that they wanted to be incorporated. This is a collaborative process and a crucial part of the design process. If this step is skipped you can end up with many changes and revisions. With many years of experience, I have learned not to skip this step!
the really fun part!
5 - Color Palette
Now it is time to look into the color palette options. Yay, color!!! Taking into consideration any brand colors that should be incorporated. I also color block out the design to see how the color should flow, balance the piece, move the eye around the artwork, and finally tie each element of the design together as one. This can be challenging if there are too many colors.
6 - Final Design
Yay, we made it to the final design asset! Now we take the time to color the artwork, add all the details, and make sure I have incorporated all of the design brief requirements. In addition, I review the client's feedback in step 4 and make sure these elements are met too.
7 - Final Approval
Final approval. Now it is time to present the final work and review it with the client. Most importantly get their final approval! Do not forget this step, you could risk additional revisions and payment hold up if they haven't approved the final design.
8 - Final Delivery
After payment is received then I provide any final asset files to them.
ADDITONAL STEPS
I had some additional steps in the process, these could also be part of other projects too. It really depends if I am painting the final product or sourcing the product production. Here are those few steps and they occurred between step 6 and step 7.
Step 6a - Information
We needed to provide the general contractor with some information about the smooth surface they needed to provide and the overall paint colors for the wall.
Step 6b - Bid and PRicing
I was not going to be painting this mural I needed to find some resources to paint it for me. I had already sourced some painters before I took on the project but now it was time for them to price the work. I put together a bid document that included the design, dimensions, Pantone colors, and specific details. They were then able to provide us with a price to perform the final painting price. This project included the painting of graphics on five other walls too.
Step 6c - Painting
Once we decided who would paint the project and construction was complete it was time to complete the project!
final thoughts
Each design project is unique but each one of these steps is critical to the project’s success. Whether the project is for custom logos, a wall mural, or a commission fine art piece I never want to skip a step. In my experience if one step is missed there is project miscommunication or something does not go well.
I am extremely proud of this mural and I think it is a great representation of what can be accomplished with a little creativity and imagination. I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed creating it!
Check out more of my work HERE.
Do you have a project for custom graphics or artwork? Let me know! Fill out the contact form or email me and I would be happy to discuss your project with you. I look forward to hearing from you soon.
Happy Creating,
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