Are You a Pencil Pusher or a Computer Creative?

Recently the subject of doing thumbnail sketches was revived over at Creative Bits. Designers weighed on on the question "Do you create sketches before your design?" If you've already made up your mind, you might not find anything new or exciting in the discussion but for those new to desktop publishing or without any formal graphic design education, it's a topic worth revisiting.

Here's a repost of some of my previous musings on the subject along with an article on doing thumbnail sketches and a poll about your own design habits.

Part of our homeschool classes include art. Each child has their own sketchbook for recording ideas and doing rough sketches. But it took some instruction for them to understand the concept of rough sketches - they tended to try to do complete, finished drawings each time we took out the sketch books. But doing rough drawings and thumbnail sketches can allow you to try out ideas and get a better feel for your subject. This is true in desktop publishing too.

It's tempting to crank up the software and start right in with setting up the page, choosing fonts, and importing images. But taking the time to try out ideas on paper and zero in on the most likely layouts before beginning a project can save time and lead to a better layout.

POLL: Do you do thumbnail sketches before starting computer work on a project?
1) Yes, most of the time.
2) If I'm not in a hurry.
3) Usually only on complicated projects
4) No, I don't find it useful.
5) No, it never occurred to me to do so.
View Results of Thumbnail Sketches Poll

Have you tried it both ways and switched your method of doing preliminary designs? What works best and why?