Design research helps your work look informed, intentional, and believable. While artist research supports idea development, design research focuses on how designs function in the real world. It helps you understand conventions, structure, hierarchy, and technical decisions so that your outcomes feel authentic rather than obviously “student-made.”
Design research usually happens alongside artist research, but it can take place at any stage of a project. Whenever you need your design to feel more convincing, this is the stage that strengthens it.
A Product Study examines how a specific type of design works in practice. You analyse real examples to understand their structure, layout, hierarchy, and conventions.
This type of research helps you answer questions such as:
How is this kind of design normally constructed? What makes it look professional? What details make it believable?
A Topic Study focuses on a particular design principle, visual device, or technical area that supports your project.
Instead of studying a finished product, you explore a focused area such as typography, colour theory, layout systems, or composition. This helps you make more informed and deliberate design decisions.
A strong Product Study goes beyond collecting images. You should always print and analyse examples carefully.
Rather than describing what you see, aim to explain how the design works.
For example, if studying book covers, you might examine:
Title placement and scale
Hierarchy of text
Relationship between image and typography
Use of colour
Spine layout and publisher details
Alignment and spacing
The 'boring' bits (like an ISPN number: 978-3-16-148410-0 )
Looking at a range of examples is important. When you compare several versions of the same product type, patterns begin to emerge. You start to notice conventions — and those conventions are what make designs feel like the “real thing.”
Labelled diagrams, annotations, and brief comparative notes are often more effective than long paragraphs. Focus on structure and hierarchy rather than personal opinion.
The purpose of a Product Study is not to copy existing designs, but to understand how they are constructed so that your own work feels convincing and resolved.
Choose a product that directly connects to your final outcome.
If you are designing a book cover, study book covers — not posters.
If you are creating packaging, analyse real packaging.
If you are designing a game interface, look at professional game interfaces.
Avoid studying something only because it looks visually interesting. Your research should strengthen your own outcome.
It can also be helpful to choose products at a similar level of complexity to your intended design. Studying overly complex professional work can sometimes feel overwhelming. Instead, look for clear, well-structured examples that allow you to identify layout systems, hierarchy, and conventions more easily.
If you are unsure what to study, ask yourself:
What am I actually making? What does this look like in the real world?
Start there.
A Topic Study allows you to explore a focused area of design that supports your project.
This is particularly useful when your work depends on a specific visual or technical quality. For example:
Colour theory — to create mood or atmosphere
Typography — to control tone, readability, and hierarchy
Layout grids — to improve structure and alignment
Composition — to guide the viewer’s attention
Symbolism — to communicate ideas more subtly
Visual hierarchy — to organise information clearly
Unlike a Product Study, you are not analysing a finished object. Instead, you are investigating how a specific design principle works and why it is effective.
A strong Topic Study explains cause and effect. It shows how certain choices influence the viewer’s experience. This prevents naive design decisions and helps you make deliberate, informed choices rather than random ones.
Topic Studies are especially useful when your project requires refinement or when your initial designs feel unclear, unbalanced, or visually inconsistent.