Todays topic highlights the often conflicting values of our industry. On the one hand we like to tell ourselves that we are in the “idea” business and that sketching is simply a means to an end. On the other hand we fawn and drool over the “hot sketch”, or unfairly cast dispersions upon designers that “can’t draw”. I’ve worked in studios where entire portfolios were tossed simply because the individual didn’t have “good sketches” and it didn’t even matter what ideas were contained inside. This is sad because if you think of some of the worlds most notable designers, they don’t draw all that exceptionally. Jasper Morrison, Ross Lovegrove, Marc Newson, The Campanas, about half of the people from Droog, etc… Their sketches are nothing to write home about and yet many of us can instantly visualize something that they have made.

This bizarre fetish seems to happens at every level, collegiate as well as professional. I understand that our industry’s earliest roots were found within architecture, engineering, or illustration and those with perfect draftsmanship were considered the mvp’s. This was especially true given that there were no digital tools (cad, pixle manipulation, vector art, etc…) But now that we are here in a new age with all our fancy tech, we’ve really got to come to a collective decision about how we are going to judge the ability of our new generations of designers. The back and forth is starting to feel a little schizophrenic.

I say this because clients have never really had an easy time reading sketches from anybody. In many scenarios the clients or true decision makers are often not creatives, and spend most of their day staring at excel spreadsheets, or outlook. Asking them to interpret sketches is asking for some mental gymnastics on their part. This is also true given the amount of design work that is being done in China where it is rare that clients are receiving sketches as a primary deliverable or communication and are becoming use to just getting a 3-d render right off the bat, and they like it.

Todays topic highlights the often conflicting values of our industry. On the one hand we like to tell ourselves that we are in the “idea” business and that sketching is simply a means to an end. On the other hand we fawn and drool over the “hot sketch”, or unfairly cast dispersions upon designers that “can’t draw”. I’ve worked in studios where entire portfolios were tossed simply because the individual didn’t have “good sketches” and it didn’t even matter what ideas were contained inside. This is sad because if you think of some of the worlds most notable designers, they don’t draw all that exceptionally. Jasper Morrison, Ross Lovegrove, Marc Newson, The Campanas, about half of the people from Droog, etc… Their sketches are nothing to write home about and yet many of us can instantly visualize something that they have made.

This bizarre fetish seems to happens at every level, collegiate as well as professional. I understand that our industry’s earliest roots were found within architecture, engineering, or illustration and those with perfect draftsmanship were considered the mvp’s. This was especially true given that there were no digital tools (cad, pixle manipulation, vector art, etc…) But now that we are here in a new age with all our fancy tech, we’ve really got to come to a collective decision about how we are going to judge the ability of our new generations of designers. The back and forth is starting to feel a little schizophrenic.

I say this because clients have never really had an easy time reading sketches from anybody. In many scenarios the clients or true decision makers are often not creatives, and spend most of their day staring at excel spreadsheets, or outlook. Asking them to interpret sketches is asking for some mental gymnastics on their part. This is also true given the amount of design work that is being done in China where it is rare that clients are receiving sketches as a primary deliverable or communication and are becoming use to just getting a 3-d render right off the bat, and they like it.

I appreciate the comments. I think before discounting the value of sketching in design, it’s important to consider that there are levels of appropriateness when sketching for different audiences.

What I mean is perhaps best illustrated by this post – http://www.idsketching.com/2009/02/18/toolbox-levels-of-sketching/

Sometimes (and I think in the case of these “great” designers) the sketch is a means of communicating what’s in your head directly to yourself so that you can evaluate what you’ve been thinking about and make a visual judgment.

In other cases, it may be a means of communicating designer to designer in an internal review where say the ideas are on roughly the same plane of goodness, and that little bit of passion and expression in good sketches not only communicates the idea, but speaks to the emotions of the viewer in a deep way.

Now, I agree. I too once obsessed over the perfection, flashiness, and awesomeness that could be portrayed with a good sketch, but I think the key is communication.

Everyone works in different ways. Some people sketch, some work with modeling materials like clay, and others in 3d. I don’t think there’s any wrong way to do it as long as you get the job done, however, I think in the case of reviewing portfolios, as will any other evaluation process for any other profession, good communication skills are king.

my 2¢

I appreciate the comments. I think before discounting the value of sketching in design, it’s important to consider that there are levels of appropriateness when sketching for different audiences.

What I mean is perhaps best illustrated by this post – http://www.idsketching.com/2009/02/18/toolbox-levels-of-sketching/

Sometimes (and I think in the case of these “great” designers) the sketch is a means of communicating what’s in your head directly to yourself so that you can evaluate what you’ve been thinking about and make a visual judgment.

In other cases, it may be a means of communicating designer to designer in an internal review where say the ideas are on roughly the same plane of goodness, and that little bit of passion and expression in good sketches not only communicates the idea, but speaks to the emotions of the viewer in a deep way.

Now, I agree. I too once obsessed over the perfection, flashiness, and awesomeness that could be portrayed with a good sketch, but I think the key is communication.

Everyone works in different ways. Some people sketch, some work with modeling materials like clay, and others in 3d. I don’t think there’s any wrong way to do it as long as you get the job done, however, I think in the case of reviewing portfolios, as will any other evaluation process for any other profession, good communication skills are king.

my 2¢

I hope my comment wasn’t interpreted as though I am devaluating the power of sketching as a means of immediate communication. We’ve all heard the old saying “a picture is worth a 1000 words”, and it’s ture. I do believe sketching is one of the quickest ways to get your point across. But I also believe it should be viewed sort of like the game of Pictionary, it doesn’t have to be art it just needs to give enough clues to communicate effectively.

As an interesting side note, I actually really like this site and recommend it to students quite often. I have taught technical illustration at one of the local colleges and am often surprised at how even basic visual communication skills are lacking.

I hope my comment wasn’t interpreted as though I am devaluating the power of sketching as a means of immediate communication. We’ve all heard the old saying “a picture is worth a 1000 words”, and it’s ture. I do believe sketching is one of the quickest ways to get your point across. But I also believe it should be viewed sort of like the game of Pictionary, it doesn’t have to be art it just needs to give enough clues to communicate effectively.

As an interesting side note, I actually really like this site and recommend it to students quite often. I have taught technical illustration at one of the local colleges and am often surprised at how even basic visual communication skills are lacking.