how to think with your hands sketching for design thinking by ahmed riaz
space to doodle
this book belongs to __________ Hi, Welcome to your book. I strongly believe in learning by doing. So please feel free to write in the book, doodle in the margins, practice the exercises, graw on the edges, carry it with you. everywhere you go. Start now. Go ahead. Fill in our name above and draw a picture on the template. It’s okay. You can always download additional copies for free on http://www.ahmedriaz.com/cookbook/
draw on me
what is a sketch Typically what we think of a sketch is a unfinished drawing. For our purposes I think it's important to get away from that proto-drawing definition of a sketch and redefine sketching for design thinking.
paper sketches
software sketches
Sketches are simple powerful tools to explore and solve problems and explore possibilities all sketches must be • Unprecious • Quick • Useful
form sketches
electronic sketches Classically we think of sketches happen only when we put pen to paper but anything that has the above qualities can be a sketch. video sketches
sketch foundations
unpreciousness Sketches are not precious and can destroyed to make room for more ideas. Unpreciousness is the quality that an experience sketch needs to have in order for a designer to be able to throw it away. Unpreciousness may seem counterproductive but actually it's an essential aspect of design thinking in that it allows for rapid iteration with the lowest cost possible. The level of fidelity of the sketch should only be as much as is necessary to make a decision for all the stakeholders involved. Sometimes this means training the stakeholders to make decisions at a lower fidelity that they might have been accustomed to in the past. The goal is to create a design process where you have the willingness to scrap what you've done and start over. sketch foundations
quickness The ability to create sketches rapidly. Quickness doesn't come easy. In order to achieve quickness you need to build your sketching vocabulary with a lot practice. In the pursuit of quickness your avid sketch ninja will also have a number of tips and tricks up their sleeve. Templates, guides, stations, code libraries all can help expedite the process. Being quick is critical to volume of sketches you can create. Volume is important because it allows you to get beyond the usual to the exceptional solutions. It's often up to the design thinker to have the ability think through enough possibilities to come up with something interesting to further build in detail. Quickness is a skill that takes years to perfect but you can start working on it today. sketch foundations
usefullness The third quality all experience sketches must possess to be useful. Sketches in design lead to solutions. While doodling is immense fun for our purposes we sketch as a means to an end. The sketches are the medium in which design thinkers create a dialogue around the end goal they are trying to achieve. Keep in mind sketching and learning what won't work is as valuable as learning what will. Often you have to go through a lot of ways things can't be done before you come to the elegant solution. Fifty sketches of how things don't work are useful when the lead to fifty first sketch that use the right way. If a sketch isn't useful you've just wasted someone’s time and money. sketch foundations