The typical creative process as described in Unit 6 of GRDS 701 Methodologies: Seminar looks like this:

1- Research
2- Brainstorming
3- Thumbnails
4- Sketches
5- Refined Comps
6- Execution

My process is not typical. I remember during my undergrad when I got professors who were sticklers for thumbnails and sketches. It was torture to me. My hand does not have a brain of its own and refuses to sketch out ideas. It would rather wait for something more substantial to come out of the brain: Ideas really emerge when I set out to ‘do’ or ‘write’, not ‘ideate’. My process looks like this:

1- Research
2- Brainstorming (speaking out my thoughts help, concept maps: not so much)
2b- Brainstorming while driving (works great for me)
3- Execution/ Refined Comps (the relationship between comps and execution is weird and non-linear for me)
4- Sleep (This is where my subconscious kicks into overdrive)
5- Back to Refined Comps/ Execution that starts to look finished

Repeat Steps 2b, 4 and 5 as needed.

What works:
• The process is fast (Minimal amount of actual design hours which makes me competitive).
• Lots of subconscious stuff.

What doesn’t work:
• A big chunk of the ‘divergent phase’ ideas never make it to comps. They remain in my head for to draw on for future projects only till I forget…
• My ideas stay (relatively) superficial. I’m not sure though. I think thumbnailing tends to bring out a whole sleuth of shallow concepts that I would otherwise dismiss in a second.
• I feel it’s harder to break out of my heuristic biases.

What I would like:
I would really like to be able to write outlines or draw sketches without feeling like they get in the way and confuse my process. I love working with anyone really, as the process of explaining what goes in my head either out loud or on paper speeds up the process even more and helps me flesh out ideas.
I would love working with a person who would challenge me to create idyllic work when I’m overly pragmatic.
I would love working with a person who’s an expert in his/her field.

These are my disjointed thoughts for now.
Thanks for reading.