Your choice of method will depend on the conditions of the timber and the desired result. If your timber is rough sawn, with varying width but fairly square then the timber frame revival method of mapping may give you the desired look. Mapping can be considered a numerical scribe method, many framers have used mapping as their first method of framing before they knew of square rule or scribing. The basic idea of mapping is to record the depth and width of the timber at the joint and to adjust the length of the abutting timber. The more simple the plan, the easier the execution and fewer variables to track. You will need to scheme out the dependencies and the work order to be effective.
Braces are tricky in a mapped frame, you might find it easier to scribe the braces during fit up.
There are a large number of relevant articles on layout methods listed in the index for the journal here on the web site.
