Moving from sketches to digital

As an artist/designer I love sketching my ideas. As a writer you may question, What is the best form to capture my thoughts, long hand, audio dictated, word processing? Visual thinking works through the same options. Should I take photos? Make drawings? Use computer software? The answer is derived from the end result, What do I need to present? In this case my final output is digital.

Next, I start paper sketching. For these assignments I’ve focused on a dilemma in the employment domain. While I’ve experienced both applying for jobs and hiring new employees, I’m far from an expert. I have to rely on my imagination to round out the agent’s goals and perspectives. I’m creating nodes and relations and then changing my mind, the result is very messy.

At which point does it makes sense to move from paper to digital? A simple deciding factor is how confusing your sketches are becoming. In this particular case, you could say hairball. Imagine multiple exposures in photography (when one photo is layered onto another photo). While sometimes interesting, the process does not generate informational clarity.

In this case, it made sense to get onto the computer early. Nevertheless, the same process of reworking, which moved me away from paper, was still causing me trouble. Limiting myself to American Letter Size (8.5 x 11 inches), the horizontal space was crowded. While this tree-type accepts any number of children, I was self-censoring ideas just because they looked awkward.

Worksheet approach

A worksheet is a checklist–an imposed structure. Ideal for collecting data in paper form. Applied to the digital environment, the worksheet idiom allows me to ignore the layout question completely. (You could also call it a template.)

Forced Grid with Fluid Edges

Here’s what I’m doing. First, create the file with Google Docs’ Drawing app. The top most first level goals are the ideas “too broad” such as “Make lots of money!”. The bottom level goals are for “too narrow” goals such as “Own a yacht [# of yachts]”. Fill in two silly examples just to note which direction is north. If you followed my 5×10 grid example, you’ll have 48 more squares to put your actor’s goals into.

Next, work semi-randomly over the grid sorting too broad towards top, too specific towards the bottom, and everything else in the middle. Color coding is also a good effect; flag a goal as too broad, for example, where ever it is. Don’t worry about the order. Just keep listing whatever comes to mind and don’t think about moving them around.

When you’ve exhausted the list of goals, start linking. Follow the professor’s tip to link upwards with Why questions and link downwards with What questions. Apply the rules: avoid verbs, add units.

Best of all, you can delete irrelevant goals (money & yachts) to make room. If you use Google Drawings linking connectors, edges stick to boxes where ever you move them. Never mind edges covering the text. Use a different color if that helps–it’s only a little bit messy.

Finally, copy/duplicate the completed worksheet to make your regular Goal Tree. Delete empty boxes and move the other boxes into the normal tree shapes for the class presentation.

I hope this helps you to work faster, and not get bogged down with layouts forcing you to throw out ideas because they don’t fit, or because the layout is distracting your sensitive visual sensibilities.