If you’re a creative person, there are probably many ideas running through your head every day. Do you have these moments? It can happen on your vacation when you aren’t even thinking about work, or it happens before you go to sleep, or even in the shower.
Maybe you saw something that sparked your interest at some point during the day, or perhaps you were inspired by someone else’s project. Creative ideas can hit us anytime.
What about the moments when you’re currently working on an important project and suddenly you get an idea for something new? It sticks in your brain and you can’t stop thinking about it.
Yes, you’re creative and you can be proud of that, but nobody will want to pay you just for being creative. You need to finish the projects you’re working on. Losing focus every time you get a new idea will not help you. Your talent can be a blessing, but it might also be a curse.
Many creative people tend to never finish their projects. Sketching and taking quick notes of your ideas might be the solution.
Clear your mind and stay focused
To be honest, sketching is like mental therapy for me. Thanks to my sketchbook I can quickly get all the ideas out of my head and clear my mind. I can focus on what’s important at the moment.
I’ve learned through the last couple of years to ignore bad ideas but it’s worth it to spend a few minutes to save those really good ones.
Thanks to notes and quick sketches, you can always bring it back later, so nothing is lost. In the meantime, you can get back to your regular work because your head will be clear, and your ideas will be saved.
Train your brain to be more creative
Do you remember your dreams 30 minutes after you wake up? You may not be able to restore any images in your mind. Later, you may even think that you didn’t have any dreams at all.
One of the techniques to improve memorizing your dreams is writing them down right after you wake up. After some time practicing it, you can train your brain to remember all your dreams even 30 minutes after getting up.
I believe it’s very similar with ideas. By sketching your initial ideas you can train your brain. You’ll learn how to visualize and add more sense to your thoughts. You can train yourself to be more creative, improve your imagination and get the most out of your ideas. After some time you’ll realize that your design ideas are much brighter and logical.
Be your own judge
Unfortunately, not all ideas are good. Some of them may seem to be great at the beginning when you’re too excited to look objectively at them.
It’s very tempting to drop everything you’re currently working on and start the new project right away. Next day, you realize that the idea isn’t good at all and you wasted 4 hours of your work.
This had happened to me too many times and that’s why I decided to start sketching first.
So what happens in the sketching process? When I have a new idea, I make a quick sketch in my dot grid journal. I usually add some annotations to explain to the “future me” what I’m so excited about. This helps me to leave it for a while and get back to my normal work. I spend no more than 10-15 minutes on it.
When I look at it the next day, I can judge it more objectively when all the emotions are gone. I can also share it with someone else and ask for an opinion before investing too much production time into it.
Make it your routine
Try to make sketching your design ideas a daily routine.
First, get a relatively small notebook, sketchbook or
a dot grid journal like I have. Make sure it’s small enough so you can carry it with you everywhere. You never know when inspiration will hit you.
Second, get a pen. I used to use pencil but then I switched to a pen because you can’t erase it. It’s very tempting to erase your first pencil sketches as you think these are not good. With the pen I can only cross it out and draw something new. I go back to those crossed out drawings often and sometimes they appear to be much better than I originally thought.
Third, sketch everything. Sketch small design elements like the navigation bars, icons, logos or new website layouts. You can sketch some new typography ideas or full website design concepts. Try to keep them simple and remember these are only sketches and ideas.
Also, don’t forget to take some notes and describe what you want to present in your sketch; for example, how the button should behave on the mouse hover.
Conclusion
As you can see, sketching helps me to save my best thoughts, be more focused on my current projects, train my brain to be more creative, and objectively judge my own ideas.
How about you? Do you sketch your design ideas? Why or why not?
Oddly enough, I said to Ron yesterday we should have a CMB challenge – for all the employees to spend a bit of “creative time” just to.. create.
I’ve been thinking of sketching more and I know ChrisG used to cartoon.
I sketch crazy ideas almost everyday. It’s amazing how the idea can evolve when you put it on the paper and try to visualize it.
Get one of these http://www.creativesoutfitter.com/products and start today! 🙂
I have a logbook from here:
http://www.leevalley.com/en/garden/page.aspx?p=45385&cat=2,46147&ap=1
😀
Cute! 🙂
Hey Rafal, I especially like, “When I look at it the next day, I can judge it more objectively when all the emotions are gone.” I don’t know how many times I’ve jotted down brilliant late-night thoughts in a frenzy only to wake up the next morning thinking, “that was kinda dumb.”
You’re pen tip reminds me of Jason Fried’s Sharpie rule for mockups. He uses a marker because it doesn’t allow for details. I’m looking forward to learning more from you.
Nick,
that was the first reason why I started sketching my ideas. I needed them to be written somewhere so I could look at it after some time.
Ideas always seem to be perfect as long as they’re in your head.
I use a small notebook sized whiteboard. It sits next to my desk and is always read to be used to jot or sketch down ideas. Great post Rafal, hope all is well!
Hey Blain,
good to know that not only designers sketch their ideas.
Thanks for comment!
I don’t think you’ll ever know just how lucky I feel to have been surfing CSS Mania years ago when I first stumbled across your website. It’s hard to believe where things have gone, and I certainly appreciate all of the hard work you’ve put in for me individually as well as for our company.
You’re one of those incredibly talented designers that I wish I could be like. Unfortunately I’m not – but the good news is that I get to ping you on chat anytime I have an idea. (which you normally end up killing, by the way.)
Thanks Brian!
I feel lucky I quit my previous job in the right moment and I published my first freelance projects in CSS galleries.
You’re a talented leader that motivates and inspires me every day 🙂
Thanks for your comment!
Rafal, I love that you’re blogging more! (or…that I figured out you have a blog) I really admire your design skills and I am glad to have a window into how you approach design.
My latest obsession is my new set of woodless colored pencils:
http://www.dickblick.com/products/koh-i-noor-woodless-colored-pencil-sets/
I really love graphite pencils for sketching with (not for design reasons, just doodling/sketching) and so I was very excited when I happened upon those at my office supply store. I find it tremendously rejuvenating to just play around with fancy pencils and paper even if the stuff I create isn’t specifically tied to something practical for my design work.
Dorian,
I don’t know why but I like keeping my sketches B&W. I’m sure your sketchbook is colorful 😉
Probably because you are efficient and capable and I just like to doodle? 😉
I seem to remember that we come down on different sides of the pen-vs-pencil divide, as well, based on a Twitter conversation. But I can’t remember what kind of pens you recommended. (Oh – you talked about using pen in your post. I should read more carefully.) I see what you mean about not erasing but I find that my drafting pencil has such a puny eraser that it’s not worth even attempting.
I use Faber Castell pens: http://www.amazon.com/Artist-Drawing-Wallet-Superfine-Medium/dp/B000TKEZDO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1341512395&sr=8-1&keywords=faber+castell+pen
This si really similar to the speech Jon Acuff gave at an event I attended back in February. He went a bit further with some specifics like scheduling your creative/production time. Basically he said the the problem he ran into was being creative, coming up with the general but big ideas, was his favorite part. So when he sat down to turn those ideas into reality they would find their way into his head and he would get side tracked with a thousand great ideas.
So he started locking himself away, getting rid of as many distractions as possible during the times he schedules to work on an idea and actually avoids writing down create thoughts during those times. He allows breaks to clear his mind and get those ideas down but basically trains himself to focus on completion.
Then he allows for actual time scheduled every day to just dream big and get a lot of stuff down. Stuff that may never be used but it get down so he can come back and look at it when he is being “productive.”
Of course I’m totally butchering the hour long presentation by trying to condense it into a comment, where I’m just saying “this is a great process.”
Nick,
thanks for your input! I’ve never seen Jon’s presentation but seems to be interesting. Is there any online video/audio?
Not that I’m aware of, well that’s not true. The event I attended recorded every session, but I’m too cheap to pony up for the recordings.
Hi Rafal
I’ve worked in the construction industry for years and the first thing I do when I want to explain a problem is pick up a pencil and a piece of paper and start sketching.
Sketching is a sort of graphical way of solving problems and it can be very powerful.
Good to see that you design boys still use pencil and paper.
I tried a few different iPad apps but still love my dot grid journal 🙂
Hi Rafal,
I really look up to, and admire you, as a designer. Any tips, hints and best practices you share regarding the process is sincerely appreciated.
Thank you so much,
Greg
Thanks Greg!
Thanks for the recommendation of the dot grid journal. I just purchased one this afternoon. 🙂 I like the idea of sketching to get stuff out of my head so I can focus on the project at hand. I have a feeling that I’ll fill that journal in no time. Great post!
Susan,
Nice! I love all Action Method products.
I have a ton of ideas but as I’m not a designer, a lot of them unfortunately just sit there.
I use Evernote to file away designs that I like on other websites. I get ideas for About pages, lay-out, etc. And when I come across something I’d like to do for my site(s), I do draw out a sketch of what I’d like something to look like in a notebook with my trusted Sharpie pen.
Hey Ricardo,
I use Evernote for writing this blog. I save there all “writing” ideas and any other interesting articles I found, etc.
I adore Evernote! If you’re taking requests for future blog post topics, I would love to know your system for how you organize things in Evernote.
I was thinking to write a blog post about apps I use every day.
Drafts, sketches, eBrain…I have got everything. Once, my brain is “talking” mode I am too slow to record it all. My dad once said when they ask him why he doesn’t like computers for drawing (CAD). He said “Computers are not fast enough to capture my idea!” Great wisdom…before you start up your computer…idea is gone. I once watched him. A printer or plotter is ancient technology compared to his sketches and drafts. Why I use it…simply. I share same philosophy like my dad. Also you need time for reflection. I have many records and later on it boils down to what I really need.
You show the best idea. Thanks for sharing.