The first idea is rarely the one worth keeping. It usually arrives quickly because it comes from something familiar—a reference you’ve seen before, a solution that has worked in the past, or an instinctive response to the brief. There’s nothing wrong with that. First ideas are useful because they give you somewhere to start, but I’ve learned not to become too attached to them.

A large part of my process is simply allowing enough time for other possibilities to appear. I collect references, make rough compositions, write fragments of thoughts, and test directions without worrying too much about whether they will survive. Some lead nowhere. Others reveal something that wasn’t obvious at the beginning.

The interesting moment often happens when two unrelated things begin to connect. A photograph changes the way you think about typography. A piece of architecture suggests a structure for a website. A conversation introduces a word that suddenly gives the entire project a clearer direction. These connections are difficult to plan, which is why leaving some space for uncertainty is important.

There is also a point where searching becomes another form of avoiding a decision. Eventually, an idea needs to be chosen and pushed far enough to understand whether it actually works. The challenge is knowing when to keep looking and when to commit.

For me, finding the right idea isn’t about waiting for a perfect solution to appear. It’s about creating enough possibilities that one begins to feel inevitable.