Do you Plan or Doodle?

[Drazan]

I try to spend 10 to 15 minutes bouncing things around in my head before putting things on screen. I find that this little preplan method makes things tons easier and faster than the "here's the job, do it now" and dive into things and having to make umpteen changes.

If given the space to pre-conceptulize, I can then put out on paper/computer 3 times faster than "doodling". It's more in tune to what the job warrants and I'm not going back and doing tons of tweaking because "something" just doesn't look right.

I don't even have to be staring into space, I can move on a project and between processes have time to think of the next project.

I'm a planner for my designs.

What are you?

[Red Kittie Kat]

Doodler..... always been a doodler. I have so many scraps of paper... old envelopes .... backs of paid bills.... notebooks.... sketch pads..... you name it I'll doodle on it :D

No blank space is safe :p

[budafist]

I agree that planning is better for the creative process, but I dont feel like I'm in a position in my day to day work to do so.

Not to mention that most of my clients have scribbled drawings of what they think they want for me to work from.

[colonel5]

the art of story boards has been lost. most people skip that stage because it takes a little more work and stretching of the brain, but than you wonder why there are so many unoriginal pieces of work out there...

skipping that stage should be the exception (because of a tight time line and lack of creativity is ok with the client) , not the norm

[Mynock]

I plan to doodle.

[reuber1]

I planoodle.

Back when I was doing design projects, I was still to be logged into the technical support call que, so it was hard for me to plan. I basically had to dig in immediately, due to the constant interruption.

[TheBluePanda]

In a perfect world, when I have time, I draw things out and figure out the logistics before diving in. I do a lot of flash learning interactions that constantly challenge my logic skills. However, sometimes I don't have the time to draw out anything, so I pretty much have to go straight to the computer without much conceptualizing.

[(gra-ph!c-D'sig-nah)]

Big Doodle right here!

[Logo-Mechanix]

I love drawing, sketching you name it always loved it, always will.

[Satchel]

My nickname used to be doodle... 'nuff said.

[mojoprime]

i'm like red -- i've got stacks of sheets of paper or scraps of doodles everywhere. i kid myself that they're "part of a larger work in progress" (emphasis to fool my own self) that i'm going to translate to canvas, but they're pretty much just doodles. the sad part is that i draw a lot on the computer now (wacom tablet) or either with the mouse (which my former boss and i used to call "drawing with a bar soap") and don't sketch near as often.

however, if it's a pretty big project, then yeah, sketching out layouts or concepts, and sketching out signatures is a must. especially if you work some place where design by committee is the norm, not the exception.

[cj2a]

very little doodling...but alot of tweaking/revising/experimenting on screen

[steve2112]

I always doodle and draw things out in some way. I love to paint and draw and illustrate to whatever mean I can. Where i go to school everyone in my classes except a few hate to draw on any level. I do not see how you could go to school for graphic design and hate to draw but whatever

steve

[wienerdog]

I find if I'm doing a layout, even the most basic kind, I'm better off taking a notepad and sketching out where things should go. Almost every time I jump right into Quark or Illustrator, I'm going to wind up wasting time trying to make things work. Getting even spacing and details get done by measuring an area, dividing it up by the number of similar-sized objects going into that space, etc.

It feels anal, but makes for a better process.

[Danger_Mouse]

Im playing with my doodle right now....er ...I mean I'm doodling right now! ...no wait...I always doodle alone......arrrrgh!


seriously though I do both. Doodling is my raw form, from my subconscious, sketching or planning a design is more constructive and methodically thought out. Often I use the both for any given design.

[Red Kittie Kat]

Im playing with my doodle right now

:D oooh my :p

[Danger_Mouse]

sorry I couldn't resist.....doodling that is.

[Red Kittie Kat]

This is very true :D

[reuber1]

It feels anal, but makes for a better process.That's what she said.

[Jeff Fisher LogoMotives]

Don't doodle a lot. The possible design solutions usually bounce around in my my brain for a few days and come to me when I'm in the shower, driving or in a particularly boring meeting. If I do doodle it's usually while I'm on the phone or in a meeting. I most often go straight to the computer these days when I have a good concept ready to finalize.

- J.

[Six]

Doodle!

I encourage my designers to concept the design on paper in black and white first. You can work out the BIG design issues much faster that way. Once the concept is fairly tight then go to the computer and explore the variations for the elements. I once had a designer that completely finished the design on paper - did an old style comp - then scanned that to the computer and rerendered it. This is too much doodling in my opinion. He was very slow as a result.

I am a strong believer in lots of thumbnail sketches to start, especially on a major design project, to get lots of different approaches on paper. These are often presented with tear sheets and swipe files to illustrate the concept. We then sit down as a team and present to each other. In our agency even the AE is invited to these bullpen sessions.

The others ask questions and often see strengths, weaknesses, or options the creator did not see. We then go back to our respective holes and refine the designs, still on paper, using the comments from the first bullpen session. We have a second session with these revised designs or even go through a third round before we get to the computer. That is done usually when the client demands to see the "rough" concepts. We actually show him fairly finished designs but they look rough. He feels like he is part of the process - smoke and mirrors.

At that point the most promising design(s) gets rendered in the computer. We rarely go there first, and then only when the solution is so obvious and easy to render that using the computer first makes the most sense.

We find using this method is fast and opens the design up to better solutions that are more on-target with the client's objectives.

Six

[budafist]

Noodledoodle