Why is sketching good for your thoughts?

Getting it out of your head to examine your idea or process, automatically gives you more information about it. You see it in a new dimension. Not only is it readily shared with others in the room, it also becomes less “precious”. You have to overcome the natural desire to protect your ideas. If they cannot stand up to the harsh light of reality, then you need to iterate and move on.

Colin Ware(1) describes concept sketches as images that contain both “appearance” and “idea”. Although he is referring to graphical systems or 3-dimensional artefacts, sketches of process can have a true appearance to them as well. In fact, the actual appearance of a process may have even more value than the ideas it embodies. ( More on this later).

The following examples (2) of sketches and prototypes  are of course just plain hilarious and fantastic. No design iteration is required: straight from the visual thinking sketches of a child into production!

1. Ware, C. (2010). Visual thinking: For design. Morgan Kaufmann.
2.(from Jack Beveridge and Joshua Lake)