Thank goodness I don't work in an office. I've been sleeping a lot, lately -- 10+ hours a day, though typically non-contiguous, for the last four days. And in doing so, I'm getting a rush of ideas in my head, as in, a torrent. Let me explain.
When I get stuck on a problem where it starts to swirl around in my head, or when I reach a stopping point in which I know enough to put the pencil down and evaluate the solution, I tend to get sleepy. So I take a nap, or just fall asleep.
I'm one of those who dreams in color, and can partially recall my dreams to know that it was in color. I also have this habit of not waking up immediately, because it turns out, when I'm halfway between awake and sleep, I am conscious enough to be able to control my dreams. I sometimes bring in designs that I had been working on, into my dreams, and obviously, they are in 3D, as opposed to a 3D rendering that is shown on a 2D sheet. Sometimes I just let my mind wander, as if I were a third person observer to my dreams. Whichever the case, in this partial awake-sleep mode, I end up burning the thoughts into my memory if they seem particularly visually attractive or otherwise unusual. When I wake up, I have on odd occasions either written about them (as in this blog) or drawn up the ideas that came from my dreams.
Now, regardless of whether or not I've solved some problem or just merely enjoyed a colorful dream, I end up with a creative spurt. It's probably part of the package of my recent process of saving ideas on a near-daily basis in a sketch book, as well as photographs of ideas into Evernote.
Along with thinking about designs during long walks (I must look like a zombie, staring out into open space while walking), these dreams, and my written / photographed notes, I think I've found my process.
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