Alex Womack

Reflection of Writer’s Toolbox

      Writing helps develop ideas for designers to think about and stem questions from.  This also leads to a more understandable, thorough, and clear finished project.  The concept of private writing includes recording thoughts and working through ideas.  When finished with private writing, it becomes more effective to present your ideas to others through briefs, blog entries, and comments.  The extensive sketchbooks of Da Vinci include some of the earliest forms of diagrammatic sketches, mind maps, and brainstorming webs.  “Whole Brain” interdependent thinking was encouraged by Da Vinci.  I believe myself to be more of a right-brained thinker, yet I can still solve issues using left-brain thinking it just takes longer to separate creativity from do-ability.  Designers who don’t have both right- and left- brain capabilities benefit from the structure of these forms of brainstorming. 

      I plan to use the strategies of mind mapping, concept maps, brainwriting, and freewriting in this project and future projects to come up with new ideas and ways of developing my ideas.  Concept maps are somewhat hard to understand but I can see where they would be great for idea development.  Freewriting seems really helpful during the process of clarifying ideas so that they may be conveyed to others.  I already use writing to convey my own ideas so the process of focussing my writing on one object should be even more thorough and become more understandable as I write.  As a Graphic Design major I can use these tools for any concept making that comes my way.  The Writer’s Toolbox taught me a lot about how my ideas can be better organized and developed more efficiently.  After reading this I’ve learned that Communication paired with Writing Skills can best convey what my ideas are in a group setting.