Why we sketch on paper before we open Figma

Every project at Halcyon starts the same way: a stack of paper, a few pencils and a rule that nobody opens a design tool for the first two days.

Why paper

A sketch is cheap to throw away. A polished screen isn’t, so we defend it, even when it’s the wrong page. On paper we draw twenty versions of the home page in an hour and argue about structure, not shades of grey.

What we sketch

• The paths: what a visitor came to do, step by step.
• The page types: a service, a case study, an article.
• The one thing per page that must not be missed.

When we stop

When the team can explain every page in one sentence. Then, and only then, it goes into the browser.