: Should designs be created on paper first? I am a newbie designer, I am often confused about moving through the design process, specifically when should I start using design software. Should I

@RJPawlick971

It's no so much about digital vs. analog, or paper vs. screen, but rather about getting ideas out of your head into a visual medium as fast as you can to maximize your brainstorming output.

The reason a lot of designers use paper and pencil first is because it's quick, easy to iterate with, and doesn't allow you to easily get bogged down in the tiny details.

This can be a great help with the initial design stage where you're trying to get as many ideas out of your head as you can to get an idea of what's working and what's not and to find connections between ideas.

So if paper and pencil is faster for you, I'd strongly suggest that. If you can do all that just fine in front of a keyboard, then that's fine too.

As an aside, I think this video by Aaron Draplin is a nice example of the "traditional" sketching-to-digital process that many logo designers go through.
vimeo.com/113751583

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@Tiffany317

I would say that it depends on situation, what kind of project, how much time you have etc. There can be a situation when you need to do something very fast and there is no need to play on paper before, because of the task being simple. But, mostly I do prefer to use paper before going to computer, because then you can sketch like about ten ideas and already see fast what works or not. Then you can focus on computer when you already know the road where you want to go, the target to achieve - polish the idea.

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