Keeping track of your ideas

[caterina]

Hello.
I was just curious about what others do to keep track of their new ideas for projects, when they do not have the time, right at that moment, to make them.

I am writing them down on a small notebook, but they are starting to become a legion! And I am wondering if I will go around to make some of them in time, and furthermore, if I will remember what they were about once I get there. Some of them I put aside because I know that I don't have the technical expertise to bring them to life as I would like, just now. But the main reason is that I do not have the time to pursue them right now.

So,what do you do when you have to wait before making something? Do you keep detailed note of your ideas or generic hints or nothing at all?

[Ann @ frabjous fabrica]

I tend to use the computer. I have a large folder of "Design Sources" divided into lots more folders of different subjects. I also have a folder "Projects" relating to projects I have started or am about to start. I also have a folder relating to our AmDram society which also contains folders of "Costume Ideas", both general and relating to a particular production.
I may make a note of what I'm thinking of doing, sometimes in a notebook when I'm not at home. The trouble with notebooks I find is that I forget what is in them as soon as I've finished writing the idea down. I'm not good at drawing so I rarely will draw what I'm thinking about as I would never understand later what I was getting at. I tend to think it through rather than sketch it out. (That's one reason why I can't understand why some people spend time creating "fancy" sketchbooks about a project - I'd rather get on and do it.) If the process is likely to be complicated or to have something new to me in it, I will make a detailed note. I am more one for words than pictures - although I have collected hundreds of design idea pictures from google images, and on line sources. I don't do Pinterest however as I don't like the idea of being influenced by algorithms!

[caterina]

Dec 6, 2021 10:44:06 GMT Ann @ frabjous fabrica said:

I tend to use the computer. I have a large folder of "Design Sources" divided into lots more folders of different subjects. I also have a folder "Projects" relating to projects I have started or am about to start. I also have a folder relating to our AmDram society which also contains folders of "Costume Ideas", both general and relating to a particular production.
I may make a note of what I'm thinking of doing, sometimes in a notebook when I'm not at home. The trouble with notebooks I find is that I forget what is in them as soon as I've finished writing the idea down. I'm not good at drawing so I rarely will draw what I'm thinking about as I would never understand later what I was getting at. I tend to think it through rather than sketch it out. (That's one reason why I can't understand why some people spend time creating "fancy" sketchbooks about a project - I'd rather get on and do it.) If the process is likely to be complicated or to have something new to me in it, I will make a detailed note. I am more one for words than pictures - although I have collected hundreds of design idea pictures from google images, and on line sources. I don't do Pinterest however as I don't like the idea of being influenced by algorithms!

Very interesting, Ann.

I guess that I also do something similar to your design idea pictures files with the photos that I take when I am outside and keep in my dropbox space under "Felting".

I like having them in Dropbox, so that I could access them on my laptop or on my phone, depending on where I am and what I am doing.
But I feel that I also need a written explanation that goes with them, or sometimes I won't know what was so special about that photo or how I was supposed to make it (2D, 3D, etcetera). Does it ever happen to you to lose track of what that idea was supposed to be?

[MTRuth]

I have notebooks that I keep notes, pasted in photos, sketches, poems, thumbnails, color studies etc. They are a mishmash of ideas all in one notebook and sometimes, I go back and read through, wondering what I meant at the time. But what I like about the notebooks is they are like compost piles. You mix the ideas all together and then come up with something of your own by mixing other ideas together instead of copying exactly what you saw. So you are composting the ideas and developing new "soil" to grow your ideas in

[caterina]

Dec 6, 2021 16:21:05 GMT MTRuth said:

I have notebooks that I keep notes, pasted in photos, sketches, poems, thumbnails, color studies etc. They are a mishmash of ideas all in one notebook and sometimes, I go back and read through, wondering what I meant at the time. But what I like about the notebooks is they are like compost piles. You mix the ideas all together and then come up with something of your own by mixing other ideas together instead of copying exactly what you saw. So you are composting the ideas and developing new "soil" to grow your ideas in

I love your "composting ideas" spirit! :-) or, they can mix up a bit like in cooking a new thing, mixing up a bit of what "we-do-like-this", a bit of new recipes seen around, a bit of what you actually have in the fridge and cupboard at the moment, a bit of leftovers from last recipe or meal...

[Shepherdess]

I have small sketchbooks I use. I can't draw but I can do basic shapes and ideas and then I write stuff with arrows so I can hopefully remember.

I have an inspiration folder that is divided into different themes and public domain pictures that I grab for inspiration and my own photos.

It took me a long time to better label my own photos. it can take a long time to look through old unlabelled photos to find the one you need. It is very useful to take the progress photos as you are working.

[lindsay]

I’m very like Ann (Shepherdess). I use notebooks with quick sketches, arrows and text for things I’m thinking about making. If I’m trying to work out something complicated, I often do a numbered list of steps so I can work through the implications. I also use notebooks to work out shrinkage, size of resists etc. On my very best days I even go back to the notes after I’ve made whatever it is to add what I learned or how I’d do it differently. The only problem is I have a lot of notebooks and seldom know where they are!

I also do screenshots of things I’ve seen online but I’m not organised about them. Usually I’m researching something in particular so there will be 20 or 30 photos together of bag handles or early 20th century fabric or whatever.

[caterina]

Dec 6, 2021 23:16:41 GMT Shepherdess said:

I have small sketchbooks I use. I can't draw but I can do basic shapes and ideas and then I write stuff with arrows so I can hopefully remember.

I have an inspiration folder that is divided into different themes and public domain pictures that I grab for inspiration and my own photos.

It took me a long time to better label my own photos. it can take a long time to look through old unlabelled photos to find the one you need. It is very useful to take the progress photos as you are working.

Thank you, Ann, those are good tips! I do not label my photos, only file them in labelled folders: maybe I should think ahead and label them!

[caterina]

Dec 7, 2021 8:33:16 GMT lindsay said:

I’m very like Ann (Shepherdess). I use notebooks with quick sketches, arrows and text for things I’m thinking about making. If I’m trying to work out something complicated, I often do a numbered list of steps so I can work through the implications. I also use notebooks to work out shrinkage, size of resists etc. On my very best days I even go back to the notes after I’ve made whatever it is to add what I learned or how I’d do it differently. The only problem is I have a lot of notebooks and seldom know where they are!

I also do screenshots of things I’ve seen online but I’m not organised about them. Usually I’m researching something in particular so there will be 20 or 30 photos together of bag handles or early 20th century fabric or whatever.

Yes, I can see where adding comments afterwards could really be useful! Thank you, Lindsay, I could do that on my notebook as well.
I am a bit frightened about having lots of confusing notebooks in the end, if I keep it up for a few years, and not being able to find what I am looking for in the mess of them! It just happened to me with my own teaching work: I prepared lots of slides on my subject, put in a huge effort in my first teaching years, hoping to reuse them ever after, but now I find it very hard to find the particular slide or slides that I am looking for, as they are not individually ordered, but inside labelled presentations that feature also other stuff. I probably should have had each slide on its own, labelled and filed in neatly arranged thematic folders...too late now.

[MTRuth]

I have bunches of notebooks from over the years. And I don't have them labeled as to what's in them. But I enjoy leafing through them just to see what's there. And getting new ideas as I go.

[lyn]

Annie has a real problem with this! She has literally thousands of photos, loads of journals/notebooks, samples stuck all over her room and piles of bits of paper with scribbled ideas and plans.
Annie has too many ideas and too little time.

I'm totally the opposite. I usually only have a few ideas scribbled on paper in my pending tray.

[caterina]

Dec 7, 2021 16:33:00 GMT MTRuth said:

I have bunches of notebooks from over the years. And I don't have them labeled as to what's in them. But I enjoy leafing through them just to see what's there. And getting new ideas as I go.

I tend to get sidetracked very easily, I must say. And in my life at the moment time is precious and rare.
But yes, if I had the kind of time I had as university student, I would enjoy leafing through old notes: maybe in a few years I will be back there again, who knows?

[caterina]

Dec 7, 2021 17:32:29 GMT lyn said:

Annie has a real problem with this! She has literally thousands of photos, loads of journals/notebooks, samples stuck all over her room and piles of bits of paper with scribbled ideas and plans.
Annie has too many ideas and too little time.

I'm totally the opposite. I usually only have a few ideas scribbled on paper in my pending tray.

I sympathise with Annie! :-)

[Shepherdess]

I sympathize with Annie. I rarely even get them to the planning or physical stage. I try really hard not to accumulate stuff. And still, I have a lot (too much?). But all those fat quarters and odd bits of material did come in handy when making masks for everyone.