Dessiner, schetsen, to sketch…
No need to learn a new language; sketching is universal! Because everybody is able to draw, because everything is drawable.
Waiting for my 365sketch challenge to be finished, I would like to share some insights I learned from past projects, and from the Pezy Group team. We are in constant need of new information, new images and new content, but we are at the same time struggling to express ideas when it’s about breakthrough innovation. After all, it doesn’t exist yet, it is still intangible. Visuals and sketches become thus, together with explanations, the reference of what is being created. To present a new project, you need to engage people by telling a good story and guess what, this is what you liked as a kid: a nice story with meaningful images. Now as an innovator, you want to make your idea concrete, shareable, and lasting. Sketching is one of the many skills you might need!
As a designer, sketching is a small part of my process, but it’s a tool with which I feel comfortable and which still helps me to understand complex ideas such as the product requirements or the emotion we want to blow into a concept (whether it’s a physical product, a service, a UI, or an infographic). While sketching a product, I think as much in terms of sculpture to translate the emotion into a shape as in terms of structure, to give the shape the right perspective. On a daily basis, I use doodling to take notes during meetings or after-work conferences (mind mappings, diagrams), to explore an idea (quick sketches on aesthetics, function or proportion of an object), to explain and convince regarding the experience around the concept (presentation board), or even to prepare the CAD I intent to make (colored sketches to construct the main curves)…
In a nutshell, the sketch, no matter the quality of it, allows me to dissect and cluster ideas in order to understand the bigger picture.
How can we get better? At design school, first you learn to observe objects and people to get the right proportions. You then learn how to place correctly lights and shadows, after which you learn the perspective rules. The next step is about adding colors, materials. Then you are ready to create a composition in order to give your idea more context and depth. The ultimate step for me is to find my own style, to get quicker, still continuing to explore new techniques. But here are simple things you can start with:
- Define your goal: is it only for fun? To communicate your ideas internally? Externally?
- One coffee, one doodle! This will create a habit and at some point … addiction ;)
- Embellish your future notes with doodles to highlight an idea.
- Look at sketches that inspire you, define what you like about it and try to copy it.
- Draw from other people’s drawings and from photos.
- Be curious, dedicated and patient :)
And for those who tell me that they can’t draw a person: I can’t either. I use a template for that (well, ok, unless I have time ..) ;)
Originally published on linkedin.com on June 12, 2018.
