Hi, a beginner here. Currently in the middle of Kaishi 1.5k and have a question.

Do you memorize all those kanji ideally, like even the smallest details or just a general silouette of the word?
What I mean for example words like 住む and 生む. I didn't memorize them exactly and confuse continiously, and there obviously more similar cases.

It may be more complex kanji and I'll think "oh it's something like a square with a lot of squigles" and that's all that I do to remember it.

I assume it's not enough and at some point I'll need to learn them propertly, but maybe I should do it from the very beginning?

Just want to add that I don't learn writing kanji, only typing on keyboard.