This article explores the impact of digital technology on freehand drawing in the wider context of design ideation and the search for a method to capture how designers go about generating and communicating their ideas, both in design schools and industry. In this, the general issue of design methodology is looked at together with a range of specific research methods that might be helpful to the researcher of creative work. The author suggests an assembly of methods within the case study method, notably protocol analysis, and sets out to test these in a pilot study with a second year undergraduate design student. The outcome provided sufficiently illuminating data for the author to conclude that the protocol analysis is a viable research tool for exploring aspects of conceptualisation in design
