Sketching and Quick Ideation in the Design Process
Invariably there’s a flurry of articles every year on the upcoming trends for Interactive and Product Design. For a while now those trends have always included topics such as Video experiences, reliance on Data Visualization to increase retention and product comprehension, but the list obviously goes on. The same can be stated for articles trending on tools, which again, every year a new batch appears, with a list of software packages who always promise to deliver better integration with project and ticket management tools, better user testing capabilities, better metrics/analytics, better collaboration and engagement between teams, and again, the list goes on. Something I’ve stated to students and professionals I’ve mentored, lies on the acknowledgment and understanding of these trends and tools, but not overly consider them as an ultimate goal of their pursuits. Designers, and the professionals in this field, are far more than a collection of listing of trends and tools — we are problem solvers, catalysts (as I have mentioned quite a few times), facilitators, communicators, observers, all with the intent of delivering solutions that are sensical, relevant, understandable for users, while also generating retention of clients and revenue for the business who is placing that product on the market. Sketching and Drawing, is an instrument/skill that every designer should always contemplate as they’re about to embark on a project, or even more importantly, on this profession. Hopefully this article provides some points of discussion on the pertinence of sketching during the Design Process.
Sketching. Merriam-Webster dictionary defines “Sketch” as “a rough drawing representing the chief features of an object or scene and often made as a preliminary study”. This vernacular driven definition, actually encompasses the applicability of this activity within the Design Thinking Process. As I have mentioned in the article “Agile in Design”, as the Design Thinking process begins and all sources of research come into play, the goal typically associated with this phase of the process is to logically process all the information gathered from the Understand phase (the problem definition, contextual understanding of users/clients, competitors, markets, demographics, analytics, trends, reviews, and the list goes on), and move on into the Explore phase. As the Exploration chapter of the Design Thinking process begins, it typically encompasses Iterations and Prototyping, but I personally believe that at this point, it’s not a matter of just iterating, but also ideating, revising, refining and quickly getting validation for the potential solution that is being devised. Sketching is a skill that presents itself crucially at this juncture in the process. This activity is important for a variety of reasons, but I’ll list the ones that I’ve observed from my experience in this process.
Illustrates concepts rapidly — as workshops/collaboration sessions occur, it’s fundamental to assess and account for everyone’s participation. Engaging in sketching exercises is a way to visually demonstrate the refinement of the ideas that are being discussed, while also allowing for the flow of the product, and the functionality itself of the product/feature to be visually represented, hopefully well enough to resemble what is being attempted. This celerity enables ideas to be illustrated, in many occasions, sketching the user journey, interactions that the user has with the product/feature, all the while enabling teams with their inherent diversity, to provide different input points which manifest themselves in quickly assessing if some behaviors, expectations and even patterns are relevant for the experience being crafted.
Democratization of collaboration — a sketching exercise invites everyone on the team to participate. This is an activity, that isn’t solely reliant on the Design professional, but something that intersects all the different team members that are part of the Product Design journey. In the past I’ve worked with teams where some participants are not comfortable with drawing in the presence of others, but that should never be a deterrent for participation. Designers should empower their team members to either sketch, or through communication/collaboration, expand their points of view, which in turn they can turn into sketches. The goal of this activity, besides what was alluded in the first point, is to also provide a deeper sense of integration between team members, who have an opportunity to not only share their insights, but also compliment each other on topics or aspects of the solutions they’re not as familiar with.
Rapid validation — sketching essentially allows for the Design Process itself to harness and take into consideration quick feedback from different categories of users very rapidly, and more importantly, very early on. By rapidly compiling and assembling the produced sketches, it’s possible to create prototypes and subsequently define and outline testing sessions, gathering quantitative and qualitative feedback from the ideas that are being discussed. This prevents the teams, in particular the Design professionals, from having to dive early on into the production of artifacts such as Wireframes or in some other situations, go into the UI toolkit, and essentially have to spend a fair amount of time outlining the flow/functionality of a product/feature, that will only then be available for testing. The Design Thinking Process has one of its cornerstones the Iteration cycle, but also the Agility aspect of it, something that requires for the teams to be present through the cycle, but also for materials such as sketches, to be used to their full potential, by incorporating them into prototypes which can be seen internally and externally, and from that point on gathering crucial information for what lies ahead (please see example of the sketch driven prototype below).
Reality Check. Sketching is a skill that is now more than ever, relevant in the arsenal of skills a Designer can and should have. I’ve worked with Designers who come to Workshops/Innovation Sessions, prepared with Stencils, with notebooks which contain pre-outlined grids, among a variety of other tools available on the market, which try to assist teams in their efforts to be more effective and productive when devising Product Solutions. Tools can be formidable aids for Designers, as they communicate with different team members, across timelines and geographical locations, but ultimately, being able to sketch and visually & coherently represent what is being discussed is of the outmost importance. For many professionals, the sketching exercise helps with their own thought process, but for teams in particular, for all the reasons accounted above, it essentially accelerates the Design Thinking process, while also richly providing insight into Clients/Testers thought process. The output of these sketching exercises, also empower and enable better outputs for the next phase, be it with Wireframes or with a UI toolkit, swiftly enabling these to materialize, since in essence that blueprint of functionality is outlined. It’s a skill that further cements an opportunity to communicate, within teams, with clients, users, allowing for the flow of information to be harnessed into the Process itself, and hopefully produce better outcomes.
I’ll conclude with the following quote, from Henri Matisse on the topic of drawing:
“Drawing is putting a line around an idea”.
