A few pages of sketchbook notations for washing machine interaction with digital-interface concept development. (Sketches by Mark Baskinger for GE Appliances, Louisville, K Y.)

 

actively engage the page space to present ideas in a sequential way. Leveraging the way the Western world reads, most visual narratives move from left to right and top to bottom within the page space. They tend to start with the seed of an idea in the upper left and flow diagonally through to the bottom right, clarifying the idea into a refined summary drawing most prominently displayed. Visual narratives can be loosely structured as a composite of drawings occupying the same page or a highly structured matrix. When

depicting sequential interaction, a storyboard structure can be particularly useful in communicating key events. Again, storyboards move from left to right and top to bottom but present ideas contained within each bounding cell.

It is essential in all sketching that the images you want the viewer to pay attention to are positioned on the page in a visually accessible way, not obscured by doodles and notation. When teaching sketching and design drawing to young design students, I always

emphasize simplicity as a rule. The more simply you can communicate an idea, the better chance you have at effectively reaching the viewer. Sometimes it can be difficult to define what a simple sketch actually is. As a standalone image it may not be possible, but in context of other drawings that communicate the concept, confusing or distracting elements can be identified and subsequently removed. Knowing what you want to communicate and being able to edit out the unimportant, redundant, or confusing information is key.