Structure in idea sketching behaviour

doi:10.1016/S0142-694X(98)00012-X

Design Studies

Volume 19, Issue 4, October 1998, Pages 485-517

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0142-694X(98)00012-X Get rights and content

Abstract

This paper describes a study designed to investigate the structure of idea sketches, here defined as the initial free-hand drawn externalisations produced by a designer of envisioned or partially envisioned entities. In the study, participants were asked to sketch freely from memory a number of chairs and to design a chair. The results obtained from analyzing the drawing process provide clear evidence for structure in idea sketching behaviour which is largely explained by reference to either volumetrical or functional cognitive models of the recalled or designed objects. This suggests that there is an intimate relationship between the cognitive and perceptual processes that are brought to bear on the recall and design tasks and idea sketching. It is concluded that the detailed study of sketching behaviour may provide a fruitful approach to understanding the relationship between cognition, the sketch, and sketching.

Section snippets

Sketching and creative discovery

In 1965, Sutherland[1]published a report describing what was probably the first interactive computer graphics system. Tremendous advances have been made in interactive computer graphics since this seminal work, but it is still the case that such systems are rarely used in the early idea generation phase of design where the primary form of externalisation remains the humble sketch. We do not yet properly understand why this is so, but the temporal distance between the emergence of the first

Participants

Four participants took part in the study. They were 2nd year Applied Arts students between 20 and 29 years of age. Three were male and one female (Participant 3). All participants had completed a foundation year before beginning their degree, and Participant 1 had undertaken sub-degree design education. Only Participant 4 had experience of design practice, having worked for a civil engineering design office for 3 years. By virtue of their education and experience they were regarded as competent

Part by part sketch production

Table 4 shows the percentage of parts drawn completely by task and by participants, and overall percentages. The results show that well beyond chance level, objects held in memory/imagery are externalised in sketches part by part in terms of their volumetric primitives (i.e. 529 of 607 parts produced). Generally, a view of the volume of a complete part it produced before the sketcher moves on to produce the next part and so on.

This behaviour occurs in the absence of direct instruction to draw

General discussion

When recalled or imagined objects are first externalised they are generally reproduced part by part in terms of the volumetrical component structure of the object recalled or imagined. Here objects are visualised volumetrical component, by volumetrical component: the sketcher produces one part, another, and another, and so on, regardless of whether a sketch comprises a single part, multiple parts, or all of the object. This spontaneous behaviour was characteristic of all participants.

While this

Conclusion

The design of CAD tools to support the design visualisation in idea generation has paid scant attention to how designers draw and how their drawing behaviour is affected by cognitive task and the progression of conceptual design. Like others who have investigated the relation between drawing behaviour and design activity (cf. van Sommers[27], Herbert[28]) we too have found that drawing behaviour is affected both by task and stage. We have also found that performance is affected by interference

Acknowledgements

This study was conducted at the Design Research Centre under the terms of a NATO Scientific Fellowship award to Manolya Kavakli from TUBITAK (The Scientific and Technical Research Council of Turkey), NATO area code: 4301; NATO list code: 51/B96/TU.

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View full text

Structure in idea sketching behaviour

Abstract

Section snippets

Sketching and creative discovery

Participants

Part by part sketch production

General discussion

Conclusion

Acknowledgements

Knowledge-Based Systems

Cognitive Psychology

Amplifying the mind's eye: sketching and visual cognition

Leonardo

The dialectics of sketching creativity

Research Journal