Part 3: OrganizationKeeping myself organized has been a major improvement to the process, as compared to when I first got excited about designing legs as a teenager. I had no trouble coming across places and inspirations, but then, when trying to finish out the leg, I’d often either a) not be able to come up with other good ideas for tasks and locations, leaving a lot of half-finished legs lying around, or b) fill out the leg with low-quality material just to finish, leaving a lot of half-baked legs lying around!
What has helped me is to create a Google Doc called “Idea Stage” where I keep my miscellaneous ideas and inspirations. I’ve separated it out by continent; each country for which I have items is given its own subheading. Items are listed below, which can be further grouped by city/region within the country or by other similarities (“Art”, “Sports/Games”, “Traditional Foods”, or specific cultures/ethnic groups).
Items, of course, can relate to multiple countries, so they can be filed in multiple places if needed. I have also created subheadings for cultural regions that span country borders (e.g. “Maghreb”, “Amazonia”) when the need arose.
Once I have enough material to make a leg, I create the leg and move it to a separate Google Doc called “Finished Legs”. Then, I can cut the items from the first document.
I’ve come across an interesting inspiration, filed it away, and then came back to it a year later after finding another good inspiration for that country. In those situations, I’ve been glad to have not abandoned the first idea just because it wasn’t enough to complete a design on its own.
Using multiple Google Docs is the system that has worked for me. Since I tend to bounce around all over the world when thinking about designs, organization is a must! It might be overkill if you don’t have trouble finishing a leg after finding a single inspiration, but my mind rarely goes from A to B like that.
Speaking of finishing legs, my next post will be about that very subject!
In the meantime, share if you have any good organizational tips you’ve learned from your own projects.
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