Wednesday, August 09, 2006

New Way to Organize my Design Ideas


It was a big job because I have too many ideas on postits and scraps, and when I brainstorm, I fill up full sheets of paper. I never forget a brainstorm and need to be able to locate those pages fast when I'm swatchin'n'sketchin'.

A big accordion file makes sense but the risk is Idea Death: I would use the contents less.

I'm very happy now: a clear plastic sheet protector for every meaningful category, and these go into a 3-ring binder. I used 35+ clear plastic sheet protectors. VERY happy! I can SEE everything, I can flip fast, I can add tabs. They naturally fall into 3 basic categories and below are 9 examples of the 35+ :

1. Ideas for Stitches and Techniques
- Love knots in pattern stitches
- Linked stitches
- Corner starts

2. Ideas by Project Type (often brainstormed in response to calls for proposals)
- 2-4 ball wearables
- Teens, tweens
- Boys, men

3. Ideas Specific to Fiber Type
- Wire
- Jelly Yarn
- Lycra content