Step away from the screen

Some of you are using the quarantine-imposed downtime to polish up your branding or rework your marketing strategy. You’re probably also suffering from eye strain due to 12+ hours a day in front of a screen, flitting between Zoom meetings, Google Docs, and Tiger King.

If you want to give your eyes a break and open up some new creative pathways in your brain here’s my advice: step away from the screen and pick up a pencil and paper.

Back to creative basics

There’s a great article by Herbert Lui on the advantages of writing and drawing by hand during the creative process, instead of automatically reaching for the keyboard, mouse, or stylus (the link is at the end of my article because I don't want you running away before I've had a chance to share my thoughts on the topic).

I agree with Lui's point of view, partly because I grew up in a time before personal computers and the only way to get an idea out of my head and into reality was with pencil and paper. Even now, I start the creative process with sketches before I open my laptop. Full disclosure: I've used my iPad Pro and Apple Pencil to sketch ideas for a few recent projects. The feel of Apple's stylus against a paper-like screen protector is almost like sketching with a real pencil and notebook.

There are numerous studies you can Google about the connection between your hand and your brain and how writing and drawing by hand helps you think more creatively and retain ideas but here are the two biggest reasons that I choose pencil and paper over digital for generating ideas:

The hand is quicker than the Mouse

Nothing helps you generate great ideas and discard not-so-great ideas quicker than pencil and paper. You tend not to fall in love with your first or second idea just because they look more polished on a screen.

Remember when we used to work from Panera?

During my design and branding strategy sessions, I often write down thoughts on sticky notes with a sharpie and place them on a table top or wall so everyone involved can see the ideas in real time. Don't like that last idea? Down comes the sticky. You think these two ideas go together? Peel and reposition.

generating better ideas

Last year, I helped my friends Alicia and Nicole brand their new social media company, The Spark Social. Their logo contains a hand-drawn "spark" whose genesis came from a doodle I made while waiting to meet with another client. It took less than a minute to scribble my idea and, although I thought about "cleaning it up" later when I was working in digital, I kept it as is because I liked the vitality and personality of the hand-drawn scribble.

If you're suffering from eye strain or creative block perhaps it's time to step away from the screen and grab a pencil. And while you're at it, take your pencil and notebook to the back yard for a change of perspective.

Here's the link I promised: "Forget the computer — here’s why you should write and design by hand" by Herbert Lui.