Recently I’ve started learning to sketch. Like many, I was told at some point in school that art might not be my forte, and from then on semi-consciously dropped any artistic interests I might have otherwise pursued. And while it may be true that I am not on track to paint impressionist watercolors, sketching accurately is more of a skill you develop than something you either have or don’t. As far as I know, the same is true of most of those mysterious “creative” things we’re told we could never be good at – a topic for another time, but if you’re interested, one place to start is with Carol Dweck’s research on mindset. Anyways, though I come from a social science/philosophy background, I’ve been floating around design for a few years now, and have run out of good excuses for not being able to draw my ideas on the proverbial napkin.
So I tote my little notebook everywhere now, and use my spare time on the train, in between meetings, or while waiting for water to boil to sketch out anything around me. Now, though I’m proud of my tiny improvements, this post isn’t meant to be about how much fun it is to draw.
Rather, the other day I was trying to draw a book I had lying on the table [instead of actually reading it...]. In the beginning, I’d check the book after every line or curve, measuring out angles and proportions with my pencil. After I got the basics down, I started getting a bit sloppy. I’d go two or three steps before glancing back at my subject, and I’d skip the quick measurements in the interest of time. The initial proportions were great. The later ones, not so much.
It’s the exact same in design. Most designers will faithfully go through the initial research process, dutifully collecting insights, making videos, and observing needs in action. But in many projects, financial and time considerations can force designers to the sticky notes and studio, emerging only many prototypes later to check their ideas with people out-in-the-world. And the same thing can happen – the metaphorical proportions are off, insights have been mistranslated, or ideas have been lost in the process of moving through too many other brains.
In an ideal world, those who would experience the design would be included in nearly every stage of the process – in research for insights, possibly in synthesis to have their perspective included in frameworks, during high-level design to confirm the general outline, and then in various iterations down to the detailed, nearly-final design to check whether that button is in the right place and right color. Given that, I’m also a realist, and I understand the constraints we all operate under – that process is extremely expensive and rarely possible. There’s also a strong argument to be made for keeping the audience from having too much direct influence over a design, given how rare it is for any of us to consciously be able to state our deep needs and desires. That being said, it’s not bad to aspire to an ideal, and keep in mind that the more we return to our subjects in some form, the more accurate our final creations.
