For 25 years, GRAPHEK has been dedicated to delivering custom solutions through design. Our team – from our founder through to our newest hire – shares that commitment to creating one-of-a-kind designs for every client and every project.
“All the design companies say that,” you might think.
And maybe that’s true; but we can say for certain that our focus on custom and one-of-a-kind hits a little different once our clients learn our secret sauce: We start the concept phase with sketches made entirely by hand. We’d go as far to say, in fact, that hand-drawn sketches are fast becoming a lost art and forgotten discipline – and it’s a process that we can comfortably say we’ll never stop doing.
We don’t do it just because that’s what we’ve always done. We don’t do it just because we love to sketch. We do it, first and foremost, because it gets our clients to the best end result.
That belief – that sketching gets the best result – is one that we live and experience every time we put pen or pencil to paper. Allowing ourselves to freely sketch without constriction lets us test our creative abilities and push our imagination, as we move quickly from one idea to the next without spending too much time on a single idea.
But don’t just take our word for it. Let’s examine what the process does for us – and therefore for our clients – a little more closely.
Meeting Branding | The International Association for Dental Research
These show how we do sketches for designs that are a bit more ‘slick’ for the final product. We had specific directions to hone in on the location for these meetings, so we ended up exploring abstract and literal ways to convey the location.
Sketching is freeing. By pouring ourselves into expressing our ideas by sketching, we can get all of the ideas in our minds on paper. It’s an enormously different process than what typically happens if one tries the same on computer; then, variations of the same concept tend to just be repeated over and over, as we alter pixels instead of starting from scratch with each new sketch.
And, there’s no pressure. Sketches don’t have to be beautiful, with shading and intricate detail. In fact, stick figures can work just as well during the concept stage! The bigger point is that sketching removes the ‘polish’ and allows concepts to stand out rather than getting overshadowed by a beautiful drawing. When one starts on computer, there’s already a layer of polish that can’t really be stripped away – computer pixels simply aren’t as variable as the touch of a human hand. A computer is ultimately more restrictive and confining than a hand.
Publication Cover | National Association of Social Workers
Our sketches don’t need to be super tight during our initial sketch meeting as a long as they communicate the core idea, which this one did when paired with inspiration images. For the presentation, the sketch was refined with detail added to fully communicate the designer’s vision.
That freedom leads us – often – to happy accidents. Making a line digitally requires more effort than making a line with a pencil, so working on paper makes it simpler to take more risks and try more things. We’re more willing to explore because it’s easier and less daunting – making a squiggle line with a pencil takes a fraction of a second, so why not try it? What might feel at first like an inadvertent brush with the pencil sometimes opens the door to an idea you may never have thought of otherwise – those squiggles sometimes become an important element, thanks the spontaneity of our wrist. Embrace that!
Infographic | Research Triangle Institute
These infographics show how all the information in an infographic is planned out ahead of time, with the addition of a strong concept to bolster the core ideas being shared.
Color can still be part of the concepts. Sure, we sketch in greyscale, but we place color palette options alongside the sketches since it helps many clients better ‘see’ the style inspiration and understand how colors can influence the tone and mood of the design. Introducing color early helps streamline the overall process, while sketching in greyscale gives us the flexibility to try another palette without sacrificing the concept.
Sketching opens the door to saying, “No” to digital dominance. Computers are our daily reality, and they have their time and place. We just don’t believe they belong in the first concept stage. Happily, we’ve discovered that once we start working with clients through the concept process, they enjoy seeing the results of our novel approach as much as we do. By getting to see true professional comprehensive sketches, representing a wide range of concepts, our clients take the journey of exploration with us.
Logo | Kansas City Action Fund
This is an example where the client initially wanted a logo that retained elements of the previous logo, which was triangular. We included something that was a bit different, which the client ended up choosing in the end. It’s always good to throw in something that’s a bit outside of the box! (no pun intended)
Maybe it’s no accident that so many of society’s best, most recognized designs started on paper. The “I [heart] NY,” for example, was drawn on a piece of scrap paper in a taxi cab with a red Crayon, and the original drawing is now held in the Museum of Modern Art in Manhattan.
At GRAPHEK, we’re thinkers, dreamers, and problem-solvers. We believe that sketching is a foundation of design. We believe it’s a muscle worthy of lifelong exercise. And we believe that the very best ideas flow between our minds, our hands, and a simple piece of paper.
