Project work: thumbnail sketches and an eraser

Working through an idea

The ideas weren't flowing. I was struggling with what to offer in the map entry for the April playbook. I considered making a map of lighthouses in the state, places I had visited, or things I notice in the neighborhood on my morning walks. But none of it clicked.

Setting it all aside for a while gave me the distance and insight I needed.

I don't remember what I was doing, but the idea came to me when I was working on something else: Maine has a surprising number of map resources. Start there.

Rather than a map of a place, I'd make an information map ... of map resources in Maine.

Working small: thumbnail sketches and an eraser
And as I do with most ideas, I started with a thumbnail sketch.

In one of my first graphic design classes, I was taught to make thumbnail sketches. Small-scale drawings of an idea. It's a handy tool for visualizing posters and book covers. It works for professional projects and your hobbies, too. You can sketch and list what you need to get started. You could map out what you've done and where you want to go.

And it prompts new ideas.

My vision for the map is a hand-drawn poster. There's more information to add and I'm still working through the layout and how to connect it all. Dotted lines? Arrows?

I'll post the final version and you can compare the thumbnail with the finished piece.

Do use thumbnail sketches or some other tool to organize your thoughts and ideas?

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More entries in This State of Mine. Have you seen them?

When a moose wants to cross the road ...

Everyone's a poet with blackout poetry.