for yourself through observation
and note taking. The activity
of drawing can occur almost
anywhere but can be most effective in particular settings. Most
designers actively keep sketchbooks or journals to record
ideas and thoughts that can be
brought back to the studio to
build upon. These sketchbooks
serve a variety of functions, but
most important, they serve as
a personal repository of ideas
to communicate back to the
designer. Collecting ideas in a
sketchbook can incorporate digital photography combined with
hand drawing and note taking to
record ideas and observations.
The key with most sketching
and drawing is to do it directly
in the context in which design
implementation would occur. In
these settings, your ideas can be
inspired by the activities, events,
objects, people, and spaces that
may have direct implication on
the designed artifact or system.
Drawings should not be cherished, nor should they be easily
discarded. The reality is that
a drawing marks a particular
idea in time and represents the
viewpoint of the author. Sharing
and presenting ideas through
drawing in a more formal setting
can be very effective, especially
if the drawings are seen as negotiable ideas that invite others
into the conversation to ask
questions and share their ideas
as well. Too often are drawings
viewed as final artifacts, where
in the mind of the author they
should be protected (in a frame,
perhaps). This tendency can stifle a creative process by bringing
finality or concreteness to the
presentation of the idea.
Reflecting on your work is key
for many reasons. This implies
getting some distance and time
between you and the work so
that you can look at it with a
renewed perspective. Regular
pinups and sketchbook reviews
can be very enlightening. First,
regularly going back through
your work may reveal compe-tencies or weaknesses in your
approach to design drawing.
Second, you may notice patterns
or commonalities in your work
that may indicate an emerging
style or vernacular. Since drawing is like handwriting, you can
identify the author by his or her
sketches. Having a celebrated
style in a particular media is
not as important as developing
a consistent approach to drawing. Competency in drawing your
ideas generally reveals consistency in drawing forms, structuring ideas, and effectiveness in
communication.
Drawing What You Really Mean:
Constructing Stories Through
Narrative Sketching
Using visual methods to communicate ideas entails creating a
substructure of nonverbal communication. Too often designers
make hasty, unrefined drawings
that must be laboriously overexplained to colleagues and clients. The very premise of design
drawing is to convey thinking,
to tell a story to someone else.
Therefore, as a visual “story,” a
sketch must sequentially reveal
information across the page in
an orderly and scripted fashion.
A narrative substructure built
into the organization, hierarchy,
and composition of the piece
will enable the nonverbal story
to unfold. Narratives, which
provide accounts for telling the
story of events, experiences, and
ideas, offer concrete touch points
for viewers with a sequential format divided into three distinct
parts—beginning (to invite the
viewer in), middle (to engage
the viewer), and end (to provide
closure). The viewer should
immediately recognize a starting
point, a main body of information, and an ending point to provide a comprehensive visual discourse of the concept. Regardless
of the particular emphasis,
drawn images somehow yield
faster access to an idea than
words. This, of course, is assuming that the sketch or drawing is
clearly organized and communicates well. Visual narratives can
take many forms—from a page
of loose sketches around a common theme to a highly structured and organized matrix. For
interaction designers, visual narratives also include aspects of
storyboarding and diagramming.
Within each narrative sketch,
there may also be elements
given importance through
increased size, enhanced color,
or fidelity. In storyboards that
read sequentially from beginning to end, there is clear termination. However, in loosely
Media is variable.
A ballpoint pen, no. 2 pencil, or a nylon
tip pen are all valid, but each influences
the formal qualities of drawings. Try
different implements to see which
ones feel best in your hand and enable
you to draw clean, dark lines. The size
of the tip should relate to the scale of
your drawing; avoid using broad-tip
markers on Post-it-size paper for very
small drawings.