The first task for a graphic designer is to understand what it is that s/he is asked to do and consider the possible solutions. The project always starts with a brief, where you are asked to do something. You can’t really start until you understand who the audience for that piece of communication is going to be. A good strategy to go about your initial planning would be what’s called a scenario planning, where the scenario puts the user at the center of the design, not what the design looks like. The next stage is coming up with initial ideas/concepts for the piece of work. Then look at all the constraints that you have: of time, of budget, of production method. The last step you go through before you come up with a final design is prototyping. It is the trial and error stage where you test both the functionality and aesthetic of the design.