Process Defines Product

The place where the process of making unfolds stamps a product as unique. Aficionados swear that Kentucky bourbon —made with limestone-filtered spring water unique to that region, aged in multi-story structures purpose-built from local wood or stone—is the supreme expression of the spirit. In similar fashion, music that’s captured in a distinctive place, whether it’s an old barn or a legendary studio, carries a sonic profile all its own.

Sometimes, process has a mind of its own, yielding a finished product that’s unintended—and perhaps new or better. Regardless of how rigorously a maker follows the steps, things can go sideways—with occasionally fortunate results: Think of the unplanned secondary fermentation that produced all those lovely bubbles in the first bottle of Champagne. Or the maker might discover a previously unseen variable, like temperature during aging to make cheese.

Finally, there’s a certain serendipity involved in the process of making something. Call it ingenuity. Can’t find the raw materials you need? Begin with different ingredients. Untested inputs plus a proven method might yield a ground-breaking product, one that goes on to become the gold standard in its field.

Process can make all the difference in the end result.

*Process Notes from Hybrid Design: For this article we wanted typography that felt like it was taking shape. We made it with the classic photocopy method—just on a scanner. After getting some pieces we liked, we refined in Illustrator.