Yes it's an excellent way to start the design process. Good design doesn't come from a CAD program, it comes from the ideas of the architect and client working together. What the bubbles do is help you figure out which rooms are most important to you and which rooms you need near one another.

If a designer/architect can only "design" using a CAD program vs paper and pencil, I personally would run the other way.

"Bubble diagrams" are actually adjacency diagrams which work to explore and illustrate primary and secondary relationships between indoor and outdoor spaces. It's an excellent way to begin to explore for a family their own unique style and preferences for living. It's not the only thing needed for creative design--for example, a realistic budget range, a thorough site analysis, a compilation of needs and wants, and some sense of desirable architectural character--are all important early elements in the design of a custom home by an experienced architect.

Our architect started with bubbles and it was very helpful for the exact reasons Virgil Carter mentioned. Bubble sizes and locations are easily changed as you work through how you want to move through your spaces one to the next and the relative sizes to each other.

It is a way of recording the organizing of spaces on paper in the early stages of space planning. Almost like gathering like colors of laundry in different piles. If the bubbles are in a glass, then you have a decision to make.

Thank you so much, bubbles in a glass will come later haha!

What I hear CPArtist saying, is that it's vital for designer to do it with paper and pencil first. Sheesh, I'm talking to a few of them and they are convincing me that's old fashioned, not done anymore, on and on. They show me houses they have designed or bust and they look good. So It's quite confusing Guess I'll keep shopping!

Here are some wonderful posts that might help you get started. Some are comments from our architects and some are suggestions for books, what makes good design, etc.

Five Rules for Better Home Design

Questions on Changing around a floor plan

Architecture and Symmetry

Sarah Susanka and Bubble Diagrams

Some thoughts from one of the architects on this forum:

"...had some second thoughts about posting here as it might be interpreted as hawking for work which I'm not being plenty busy, but on the other hand I want you to be in a situation where you're spending a healthy six figure chunk of your hard earned money the best way possible and I write this advice for the lurkers too! Especially since there are no "do overs" in building a whole house.

So with that said and in lieu of a massive retype by me, let me point you to a coupla threads......

Get somebody CREATIVE to sit down with you for a design session as CP described above. Doesn't have to be expensive or time consuming. Here's a link to one: http://ths.gardenweb.com/discussions/3887104/what-should-i-expect-from-my-architect-long?n=17 Scroll down to my 5/12/16 post. And there's a photo there of what one of these sessions looks like. It's not a bunch of hocus pocus "man behind the curtain" stuff. And while you're here, scroll down 2 posts to my thoughts on trusting a CREATIVE designer and the place for preconceived ideas. My guess is, and I'd agree if you said it's pure speculation, with all the cutting and pasting you're doing you haven't realized that a leap of faith is required on your part for the best outcome.

And here's another link from someone on this board who did exactly that: http://ths.gardenweb.com/discussions/3598813/we-fit-an-architect-into-our-budget-and-it-was-so-worth-it?n=17

And, for a little self education, here's a list of great books on good home design: http://ths.gardenweb.com/discussions/3281434/book-suggestions?n=10

And last but not least, here's a great thread on what makes for good home design. Get a cup of coffee, a comfortable chair and spend some time going through it. It's long but worth the read. All of us design folks chimed in there (along with many others) so you get all the great thoughts and ideas in one convenient location http://ths.gardenweb.com/discussions/3285825/what-makes-a-house-have-good-design?n=39"

What I hear CPArtist saying, is that it's vital for designer to do it with paper and pencil first. Sheesh, I'm talking to a few of them and they are convincing me that's old fashioned, not done anymore, on and on. They show me houses they have designed or bust and they look good. So It's quite confusing Guess I'll keep shopping!

I'm sure there are one or two designers who can create equally as well with a CAD program vs just paper and pencil. However, I think in most cases a CAD program in the beginning of design tends to stifle creativity vs allowing the free flowing of ideas that a humble #2 pencil and piece of paper allows.

Edit: CP beat me to this LOL!:

Be careful of a designer who rushes to the computer to start design. A computer program will not provide one with creativity. That will only come from one's head.JK Rowling didn't write what she did because she went out one day and bought a hot shot state of the art word processing program at Office Depot. Her creativity, all of it, came out of her head. Computer programs can allow a greater testing of that creativity of course as JK had it much easier testing and editing of words and phrasing than say Hemingway on his manual typewriter but the one thing they both had in common was ALL of their creativity came out of their brains, not from an Intel motherboard or a Royal manual typewriter.

And ironically, most of the creative residential designers come up with the concept, or "big idea" using a freehanded pen on paper. Sure, they may be developed later using Sketchup or some similar program but even then all those ideas are coming from a brain. There's no dialog box that pops up in the middle of the screen saying "Need more windows. The house may be a little dark!" or "Why don't you try the a gabled roof instead of a hipped one?".

Client's ask me all the time "Why don't you initially conceptualize with a computer" and I reply "A CAD drawing my show what I know but a sketch will show what I'm thinking". And most of my initially conceptualizing is done in front of the client anyway and working with freehanded ideas makes the process much more dynamic and fluid.

I always diagram the site first but I don't always use bubbles and rarely show it to a client since they tend to relate to the results rather than the process. But I do use a lot of tracing paper for schematic design. A computer would slow that process down and quickly put me over my budget before my first invoice. In the final analysis speed rules and computers as well as a drafting boards are much slower than the hand of a designer but most importantly a hand sketch signals that the design is not complete and encourages a client to continue to participate in the collaborative design process.

I try not to discuss my design process at an initial interview other than to describe the phases. I rely on recommendations, examples of past projects, and the natural charm with which all architects are blessed.

IMO the advantage of CAD in the design phase is accuracy for renovations and moving quickly from the DD phase to the CD phase. 3d CAD is very useful in the design phase but I only use SketchUp because it's fast and looks like a sketch. Most 3d software is far too ugly to show a client. I send my clients the SketchUp Viewer download link so they can rotate the model. I have to work hard to allow clients to feel included in the design process since digital communication has made that more difficult.

To all the above pros. Thank you for the comments, the reading materials etc.. Which are helping me better learn and understand the design and home building process...