Throughout the majority of my tenure as a graphic design student, I spent most of my time figuring out the style that I wanted to portray through each piece. Experimenting with drop shadow and outer glow (sometimes to my detriment) was essential in establishing the way I design projects to this day.

Since this world is saturated with design, both good and bad, it is easy for someone to "throw together" a logo and call it art. What some may see as thrown together fonts may have taken hours behind the scenes to design and finalize. Well, when in college, I relied heavily on the use of a mouse and my trackpad to finish projects. Because of this, my work was subpar and amateur-like.

Now, I am not calling myself a good designer; however, I am saying that my process sped up tremendously and I became far more creative when I picked up a pencil and sketch pad, pushing me to doodle before taking anything to the computer. Because I confined my hands to the mouse, my creativity was constricted. However, when sketching on a blank piece of paper, some of the most unique ideas have come from a few minutes or hours of sketching.

My professors constantly told me that process is imperative. It is what can make you stand out from the rest of designers. I have to say, they were right. When I have a piece of paper and pencil in front of me instead of a screen, my creativity and designs become unique. No longer am I constantly researching on Google every time I need an idea. Rather, I sketch out a lot of ideas and narrow that down to one.

So, next time you are having creative brain freeze, push aside the computer and mouse and pick up a piece of paper and pencil. You might be surprised at how original and creative you can be.