Page 49 - Graphic Design and Print Production Fundamentals

Graphic Design 37
as a product that hasn’t been fabricated, a structure that hasn’t been built, or to show a photographer how
you want material to be laid out in a photograph that has not yet been taken. Although you could create
these comps digitally, it’s often more cost effective to create a sketch.

Designers sometimes create hand-drawn comps in order to avoid presenting conceptual work that looks
too finished to a client, so they will not be locked into a particular approach by the client’s expectations.

Even in this digital age, you should draw all thumbnails by hand (using pen, pencil, or tablet) for the
following reasons:

• You don’t have to make time-wasting decisions that you shouldn’t be making at this early
stage (e.g., what typeface should I use? what colour should this be?)

• It’s much faster than doing it digitally.
• Work done on a computer tends to look finished and professional, and this can trick you into
thinking an idea is better than it is.

• The technology of a tool tends to define the way it is used. If you are using a computer, you
will tend to come up with solutions that can be executed only on a computer, and that limits
your creative options. For example, would you think of creating an illustration from coloured
paper if you were using the computer?

• Hand-drawn sketches provide a paper trail that shows your concept development process and
can be presented in case studies to reveal your entire design process in a more personal and
engaging way.

Media Attributions

• nothing-is-written-in-stone-527756_1920 by SBM © Public Domain