Before the first revision of a comp or the first passed test, I find the biggest problem I face is finding a way to harness my creative wit and direct it towards a new problem. Getting focused when there are all kinds of ideas, deadlines, demands and expectations floating around your noggin is a must, but it’s not always easy.

I'm going to share some methods that I use to get back on track and focus my creative and analytical energy. Sometimes I follow my process start to end and sometimes I jump straight to brainstorming, it depends on my state of mind at the time. I hope you enjoy!

Contour Drawing

Contour drawing is often my first step when I've been extremely focused on other things and in need of a reset. I find it really cleans my mind’s slate, sort of like shaking an Etch-A-Sketch. I like to start off blind contour and then move my way to modified contour.

Freestyle (Writing & Drawing)

I find it necessary to turn up the crazy and focus in on something new and offbeat to get myself in the mood for some design and analysis. I usually put on my headphones and queue up some music. I start writing and doodling arbitrarily at first, and then gradually transition towards the topic I'm going to be brainstorming.

I sometimes write a dialog between two characters with opposing opinions or about a feeling or experience that I've never felt or had. I will often draw haphazardly; creating a form and then just adding other forms onto it transforming it into whatever. Sometimes if I really need to think differently, I’ll draw a Rube Goldberg machine in some form.

They key with freestyle I find is to avoid stopping and thinking about something else so you don’t interrupt your flow of ideas. Freestyle is a preparatory process for me that leads to brainstorming.

Brainstorming

After contour drawing and/or some freestiling, I start focusing in again. I feel refreshed and I find it much easier to form and output tangible ideas. At this stage I’ll use a little color to spice things up, but often it’s just black ink on layout stock. You could get fancy and use a four color ballpoint like Ed Fella, but that seems like a lot of work to me.

Brainstorming for me is sort of like a formal form of freestyle, I force myself to stay on topic, and I create things that I might show other people. These range from the infamous word cloud, to comprehensive wireframes, and sometimes even code. It’s not uncommon for me to draw a wireframe and also the structure of it’s markup.

Often times I brainstorm my initial ideas independently and in silence. However, when I'm far enough along in the creative process I like to share the activity with other designers and developers, and sometimes friends or other coworkers.

Final Thoughts

I found it tough at first to be this raw. It wasn’t easy until I came to the realization that it’s okay to be bogus. Just because I draw or write something doesn’t automatically make it a direct reflection of who I am and I don’t have to put everything I make on public display. After those realizations I was free to experiment, and able to let myself wander areas of my mind that I'd never been.