Sketching is more than making correct drawings

Sketching in the context of a design process is not a goal in itself, but can be considered as a tool to\ud make better designs. Sketching as a design tool has several useful effects as: ordering your thoughts,\ud better understanding of difficult shapes, functioning as a communication tool, and providing an\ud iterative way of developing shapes. In our bachelor-curriculum Industrial Design Engineering we\ud developed a series of courses that addresses these effects in particular.\ud The courses are Sketching and concept drawing (SCT), Product Presentation Drawing (PPT) and\ud Applied sketching skills (TTV). This line of courses is built on three pillars:\ud - Learning to sketch; Theory, speed and control of the materials.\ud - Learning from sketching; Develop a better insight in complex 3D shapes (Figure 1).\ud - Sketching as a design tool; Communication, ordering your thoughts, iterative working.\ud As a result we see that students who have finished the courses instinctively start sketching in an\ud iterative manner, use sketching as a source of inspiration and learn that the whole process of iterative\ud sketching helps in structuring, developing and communicating the design process. In this way the\ud students become better sketchers and better designer

Mediating Cognitive Transformation with VR 3D Sketching during Conceptual Architectural Design Process

Communications for information synchronization during the conceptual design phase require designers to employ more intuitive digital design tools. This paper presents findings of a feasibility study for using VR 3D sketching interface in order to replace current non-intuitive CAD tools. We used a sequential mixed method research methodology including a qualitative case study and a cognitive-based quantitative protocol analysis experiment. Foremost, the case study research was conducted in order to understand how novice designers make intuitive decisions. The case study documented the failure of conventional sketching methods in articulating complicated design ideas and shortcomings of current CAD tools in intuitive ideation. The case study’s findings then became the theoretical foundations for testing the feasibility of using VR 3D sketching interface during design. The latter phase of study evaluated the designers’ spatial cognition and collaboration at six different levels: “physical-actions”, “perceptualac ons”, “functional-actions”, “conceptual-actions”, “cognitive synchronizations”, and “gestures”. The results and confirmed hypotheses showed that the utilized tangible 3D sketching interface improved novice designers’ cognitive and collaborative design activities. In summary this paper presents the influences of current external representation tools on designers’ cognition and collaboration as well as providing the necessary theoretical foundations for implementing VR 3D sketching interface. It contributes towards transforming conceptual architectural design phase from analogue to digital by proposing a new VR design interface. The paper proposes this transformation to fill in the existing gap between analogue conceptual architectural design process and remaining digital engineering parts of building design process hence expediting digital design process

Applying scenarios in user-centred design to develop a sketching interface for human modelling and animation

This paper presents our user and usability studies for applying scenarios in user-centred design to develop a sketching interface for virtual human modelling and animation. In this approach, we utilise the User Centred System Design (UCSD) strategy and spiral lifecycles to ensure system usability and functionalities. A series of usability techniques were employed. After the initial conceptual design, a preliminary user study (including questionnaires and sketching observations) was undertaken to establish the formal interface design. Second, an informal user test was conducted on the first prototype: a “sketch-based 3D stick figure animation interface”. Finally, a formal user evaluation (including performance tests, sketching observations, and interviews) was carried out on the latest version: a “sketch-based virtual human builder”. During this iterative process, various paper-based and electronic-based sketching scenarios were created, which were acted-out by users to help designers evoke and verify design ideas, identify users’ needs, and test the prototype interfaces in real contexts. Benefiting from applying the UCSD strategy and scenario-based design to develop a natural and supportive sketching interface, our investigation can be a useful instantiation for the design of other sketching interfaces where these techniques have not been widely acknowledged and utilised in the past

Understanding the Roles of sketching in product design

Sketching is an essential part of the tradition and practice of design. However, despite the extensive literature on the subject, the roles of sketching in the design are still not fully understood. Therefore, this PhD study was carried out to understand the roles of sketching in the product design field and to develop the means to support the design sketching process. Hypotheses emerged from the review of the literature and led to three descriptive studies: a pilot study to identify the roles of sketching in design; a survey of design students; a survey of design professionals. Data collected from these studies were used to test and verify the hypotheses. It was found that the major roles of sketching in design were related to design ideation and design communication. The comparison between design students and professionals showed that they tend to perceive the major roles of sketching differently, but shared similar opinions on the major roles of talking sketches, sketching expertise and as a practical supporting tool. In addition, an Ideation Segment Model was proposed, which describes the process that sketching ideas evolve into final design outcomes and locates the potential supporting tools in the sketching process. Consequently, a practical supporting tool was developed to enhance understanding of design sketching, to provide external stimuli, and to improve sketching expertise. The supporting tool, entitled the PD-Sketching Primer and PD-Sketching Toolkit, was tested with education and positive feedback was received. This research has contributed towards understanding the roles of sketching in design, e.g. it is the first empirical study of ‘non-working sketches’ in the design field. It has generated new knowledge and tools to support the design sketching process. This supporting tool is one of only a few resources designed to support sketching activity and creative performance in the product design field.Open Acces

FreeForm: An informal environment for interface prototyping

Best practice in interface design suggests that hand-drawn sketches are preferable at the early stages of the design process. This paper describes the FreeForm software which supports informal sketched interface design by acting as a Visual Basic Add-In. The Software utilises a digital whiteboard and pen input to support sketching and “running” of an informal prototype

Sketching sonic interactions by imitation-driven sound synthesis

Sketching is at the core of every design activity. In visual design, pencil and paper are the preferred tools to produce sketches for their simplicity and immediacy. Analogue tools for sonic sketching do not exist yet, although voice and gesture are embodied abilities commonly exploited to communicate sound concepts. The EU project SkAT-VG aims to support vocal sketching with computeraided technologies that can be easily accessed, understood and controlled through vocal and gestural imitations. This imitation-driven sound synthesis approach is meant to overcome the ephemerality and timbral limitations of human voice and gesture, allowing to produce more refined sonic sketches and to think about sound in a more designerly way. This paper presents two main outcomes of the project: The Sound Design Toolkit, a palette of basic sound synthesis models grounded on ecological perception and physical description of sound-producing phenomena, and SkAT-Studio, a visual framework based on sound design workflows organized in stages of input, analysis, mapping, synthesis, and output. The integration of these two software packages provides an environment in which sound designers can go from concepts, through exploration and mocking-up, to prototyping in sonic interaction design, taking advantage of all the possibilities of- fered by vocal and gestural imitations in every step of the process

Graphic Design Students’ Perceptions Of Using Apple iPads To Create Sketches And Promote Idea Generation

Artists and designers typically utilize sketching during the early stages of the design process because it provides them with an opportunity to transfer ideas from their head onto paper, computer, or mobile device. Sketching is regarded by researchers in the field of design to be an essential part of the design process. The existing research in this field is focused on comparing paper and pencil sketches with sketches completed on computers. There is a void in the literature examining sketching completed on mobile devices like the Apple iPad. Therefore, this study aimed to fill that void. The purpose of this study was to explore the effectiveness of graphic design students’ use of iPads for sketching activities. The experiences and perceptions of 10 graphic design students who completed a sketching activity using iPads, were examined during the spring and fall semesters of 2016 at a university in the Upper-Midwest. Qualitative phenomenological research methods were used in the study. Data was gathered from interviews and from analysis of the participants’ iPad sketches. The general categories for the participants’ perspectives included background information, design workflow, attitudes on sketching, experience using the iPads, and quality of the iPad sketches. Three themes emerged from an analysis of the data. The first theme addressed the reasons why students preferred sketching with paper and pencil. The second theme explained the benefits students found when sketching on iPads. Finally, theme three expounded on alternative idea generation techniques that could be accomplished on iPads

The effect of prototyping material on verbal and non-verbal behaviours in collaborative design tasks

This paper reports a study of 23 controlled experiments, with a total of 99 individual tasks, between pairs of designers collaborating to solve a simple design task using four different types of prototyping media. The aim of the study was to correlate verbal and non-verbal behaviours across different types of media with a range of measurement indicators. Using innovative movement trail images we show how collaborative sketching activity results in attenuated use of interpersonal collaborative space when compared with cardboard, clay, and Lego, which provoked intensive collaboration. Furthermore, the sketching (control) condition resulted in pre-conceived ideas being executed when compared with the three-dimensional media, where ideas emerged through collaboration. This finding suggests that increased creativity in design can result through the careful choice of prototyping media at the beginning of the design process

The role of game rules in architectural design environments

'Experimenting' and 'observing' are crucial actions in architectural design thinking. They rely heavily on the representation environment used (e.g. sketching, scale models, sketch tools, CAD tools, etc.) and the 'game rules' at play in these environments. In this brief paper, we study the role of this representation environment in the overall architectural design thinking process. From this brief study, we indicate two design and implementation approaches to implement and design with such game rules in virtual design environments

Which visualisation tools and why? Evaluating perceptions of student and practicing designers toward Digital Sketching

An ever-increasing array of design visualisation tools are available to designers. As such, design education is constantly challenged to keep up with these trends so that students are best equipped for entering industrial practice. This paper reports a study into the use of digital sketching, a relatively new digital visualisation tool. The study aims to identify thematic differences in how students and practitioners perceive digital sketching. These are given in terms of the tool’s characteristics, and how these characteristics guide its application in early stages of the design process. Data on perceptions is captured using design diaries and semi-structured interviews. Results show key differences in the way that practitioners perceive the intent of visualisation. Practitioners focus on iterating towards a solution during the design process. Students are much more focused on the task of creating visualisations. This reveals an underlying contradiction in the way tools are perceived between creating visualisations to gain expertise or skill, versus creating them to advance the design process. The insights help improve our understanding of how the different characteristics of digital sketching inform its use. We reflect on how we educate students with respect to selecting and using digital sketching. We conclude with implications for education of digital sketching, as well as other emerging digital visualisation tools