Keeping A Process Book
As I shifted more heavily into design this past year, it became important to document the process from ideation to completion. Keeping a process book has allowed me to more intentionally develop my design process and to be more thoughtful about what I do. I'm able to get thoughts and ideas down quickly before I move to the computer, to keep a record of my ideas without any pretense or need to be elaborate. It also offers me proof that although I usually always creating for myself in 2014, I was (and am) still creating. It's nice to have evidence of that.
These are not works of art, but they are the record of a busy mind (and hand), and tucked in the pages, there are small personal marks and items to collect for future projects of my own. Many of the thumbnail sketches and notes here became finished projects later, and it's fun to revisit how they developed. I spent some time in my process book developing new branding for my site as well, which I also updated this year.
Today, I've started collecting inspiration for another sort of book, my own personal process book, a sketchbook. (I'll post some of my favorite findings soon.) I want to revisit my own mark-making vocabulary, even to recreate it. Perhaps some of these studies will develop to become works of art, some of the lists may become poems. I think it was necessary to focus on my professional development for awhile, along with devoting much of my time and energy to my family. But sometimes the-purely-for-joy-of-creating self needs nurturing too, even in small pockets of time, though simple marks on a page. I'm sure I'll continue to keep a design-process book, but I hope some of the things I love most about keeping it will stay with me as a start my new sketchbook. Cheers to a blank pages with infinite possibilities to explore.
Who are your favorite artists keeping sketchbooks? What is your process like? Do you keep a sketchbook/notebook/journal of some sort? Tell me in the comments! I love learning about others' inspirations and processes.
