What is a thumbnail and why are they important? I addressed these issues in my blog, as well as incorporated my own sketches. However, as a sketch is used to create an final product, I reverse engineered a thumbnail by putting myself in the feet of the original designer. I tried to image what the designers thumbnails would look like for particular posters, and thus, created sketches from end results. On the left is my reversed engineered thumbnail and the original poster is on the right.
Description:
Thumbnails are small sketches. They tie together all a designer's brainstorming and thinking to create a tangible plan. They are suppose to be a mini representation of a final product that designers reference and work from, which makes them very vital in the designing process. They are created at the beginning stages of this process. Once an idea is formed, designers sketch rough plans for their end result. They want the key factors for the design to be evident, but not too detailed, for it is only a small scale of one of their ideas. This can help designers formulate what they want to depict in their end result. At the end of sketching, they can also look back at their many thumbnails to narrow down which thumbnail they want to create, or even which thumbnails they want to combine, for their final result. As you can see, there are many applicable purposes to thumbnails in design fields: tie together brainstorming, create a tangible plan, decide what you're end result will look like, and a sketch that is easy to reference during the creating process. Additionally, sketching helps save time while creating an end result, since designers can easily use pencil to make small revisions instead of redesigning concepts on Illustrator or Photoshop.
I included some of my sketches in this blog. While I was creating my thumbnails, I came across some insights for sketching effectively. The goal is to design several different plans on paper, for it is easy and quick. I would start out by drawing a rectangle to just get the mind flowing instead of being stuck with "sketcher's" block and not draw anything on the paper. Then I would draw some basic shapes and ignore detail; draw the outline for the main object needed to be designed. Later try to vary the lines and locations of these shapes. Maybe even try squinting to see if you can point out the basic layout out your thumbnail. Finally establish a rough location or background to your sketch.
Reflection:
After completing this activity, I already started to improve my sketching ability. I used some of the tips I found while researching in my own thumbnails, and even started to incorporate those ideas, such as squinting, in my new sketches for my other graphic design projects. When I would squint, I would make sure that I had enough basic lines to figure out my layout. Once I could see my main object, I would move onto another sketch and not waste my time with insignificant details. This saved me a lot of time during the design process, for once I figured out which thumbnail I would work off of, I started drawing in the details instead of using up time to draw details on the thumbnails I was not even going to use. While I was sketching, many people could argue that I could have been left out even more details, but I found them significant enough to keep them since they were distinct features. However, next time I will continue to squint to double check that I am not wasting my time drawing in details. I would say sketching is a 2/10 for challenging, so everyone should definitely do it before starting to work on a project, and I would give my effort a 10/10 for this blog post about thumbnails! I hope my insights have helped clarified some knowledge about sketching!
