Sketching is the new black : inspirations from the analog world

mmmmmmm. The smell of Fall is in the air. Every September, I get that “back to school” urge to stock up on art and school supplies. This fall, armed with our trusty pencils, sharpies and paper, we’re knee-deep in exploring how lo-fi pen-and-pencil techniques can impact our work.

As I talk about in the essay The Joy of Sketch, there’s a lot of activity at Adaptive Path around analog visual methods. Below are some of the inspirations we’ve found helpful in exploring different approaches.

1) Hand Sketching for drawing people, places & things

We’re inspired by:

2) Hand Sketching for drawing abstract concepts & ideas

We’re inspired by:

3) Graphic recording and Graphic facilitation

We’re inspired by:

4) Mind Mapping

We’re inspired by:

5) Sketchnoting

We’re inspired by:

And if you’re in the back-to-school mood yourself, check out David Gray’s web-based Visual Thinking School.

What methods and approaches have you found that have furthered your practices? Please share them in the comments. New tools are always welcome!

There are 9 comments on this idea.

How to design like an architect

<blockquote cite=“Edmund Bacon”>“It’s in the doing that the idea comes”

- Edmund Bacon</blockquote>

Doug Patt explains that sketching helps a designer/architect to combine what they know with a challenge to solve a problem.

I whole-heartedly believe in sketching ... and in generative design.

I think what can benefit small- and medium-sized development teams more than just sketching alone is to learn how saturating a design space (w3ith quick sketches) and rapid iteration leads to better product design and development.

Add to the conversation.

Commenting is not available in this channel entry.