Sketching
is the most powerful tool used for visualization techniques.
Sketching is directly related to
creativity since it allows for quick ideation and for communicating
ideas of any level of their details.
The ability to present design ideas and thoughts through
sketches is one of the most valuable skills
product designer or design engineer can possess. It is the
basic language of design and it is also the
quickest and most efficient tool for problem definition,
conceptualization and development of form and
function. Sketching is an integral to the design process
since it enables abstraction, encourages
flexibility of thoughts and stimulates creativity. Conceptual
design and the optimal solution finding
is always more effective when supported with sketches.
Interactions with sketches enables understandings among
participants in design activities, providing
much more effective communication than verbal descriptions.
The creation of sketches allows ideas
to move quickly from thoughts to real objects. Sketching
amplifies the mind's ability to translate
abstract information into a visual features and allows
for effortless and flexible process for producing
representations of possibilities up to well defined solutions.
CAD systems impact on the product design and development
cycle is tremendous, but CAD chokes
creativity by imposing strict and long time process on
the user. It is noticeable that visual "artistic"
skills are important to design and engineering progression
and it is observed that creativity can be
significantly reduced by the introduction of CAD too early
into the design process.
Quick drawing is still a powerful tool and free of the
constraints of the sequential processes forced by
computerized systems. Sketching is and will always be faster
than using a computer. Sketches allow
for multiple iterations to occur simultaneously and almost
instantly. Also the sketched drawings are
universal without linguistic and cultural barriers.
Engineers play an important role in the product design
and development process and they should have
most of skills needed for the effectiveness of their work.
It has been suggested that quality of engineers
and mostly design engineers is directly related to the
creativity skills and efficiency in problem solving.
Effectiveness of those skills is considerably enhanced
with the primary tool of design, sketching.
Sketching has many purposes in product design and development
process including:
- Communication - explanatory or instructional sketches
- Ideation - creating, search and exploring of ideas
- Resolution - technical and functional evaluation
- Styling - providing form or aesthetic concepts
- Selling - illustrations for persuasive purpose
It is crucial that designers and engineers become proficient
in ideation techniques and sketching if good
quality of the developed products is expected from those
individuals. Efforts should be made to decrease
the reliance on CAD when new concepts and design solutions
are needed since CAD reduces creativity
by imposing its structured methodology and by absorbing
much more time for making representation of
the concept than for that concept creation.
Most of engineering schools teach CAD operating skills
but sketching skills development is not included
into engineering education. Therefore most of engineers
are quite weak in sketching ability. This is despite
significant research that links sketching to creativity
and indication that sketching ability can be learned.
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