Tool no.1 - Design sketching

If one is into (strategic) conceptual design, the tool that you use the most is a pen. Accompanied with some markers, the pen and a sharpener, you make a terrific team together. As an industrial designer is a professional in visually explaining the creativity and it´s outcomes, The designs need to have a fast and reliable means to be presented in the team and to the clients. Therefore one has to know how to master the basic sketching techniques. It is not quite enough just to be able to draw beautiful pictures but there has to be rules in making the sketch so that everyone understands the meaning of the sketch, without the designer explaining what is going on. The works should present themselves.

In my educational oven at the university of Lapland, sketching was not appraised enough and the workshops did not require sketching. Everyone was going for the 3D and no sketches required for the completion of courses. I assume that it is one thing that separates us from the top schools. During Last spring, when I was applying to DesignworksUSA, I realized that the sketches are the essence of design profession, at least in consultancy world. Also car design includes heavy sketching and rendering. Somehow I think that during my studies, the sketching was just something expected, not looked after. If there had been more workshops on basic sketching and rendering, perhaps it would have been easier to get internships etc.

However, there seems to be a gap also in the presentation of sketches and the real world. No one shows the crappy doodles even though they are the ones mostly done and looked into when working. I didn´t want to show my first sketches because they were not flashy or beautiful enough. However, the sketches are there to tell something, so show them!