New rule for myself: Sketch more, “Design” less. And by “Design,” I mean pulling up Photoshop and saying, “Okay… it should be … ehhhhh … blue. This blue? That blue? Hmmm…”
Of course, any good designer will tell you that’s not design. And it definitely shouldn’t be the first thing I do. But it was, and I was an unhappy dude who REALLY wanted to be spending more time with a #2 pencil and some thick sketching paper. Then, fed up with the process, I threw down a sketch for a web page I’m creating on paper, and I realized that I was able to do the work faster and enjoy it more in a sketchbook.
I then translated it to the screen, and although it wasn’t flawless, those decisions about blue actually came at the right time, instead of being dream-killing life-draining horrors.
So. My new discovery: if you want to spend less time staring at the screen and more time with a pencil in hand, you should go for it. It will actually benefit the business, your sanity, and Dixon, manufacturers of the finest #2 pencils in the world. (Although, believe it or not, Staples makes a surprisingly fine #2 as well.)