Sketching Across Design Domains
Sketching Across Design Domains
Engineering Design Centre, Department of Engineering, University of Cambridge
Computer Laboratory, University of Cambridge
School of Computing, De Montfort University, Leicester, UK.
Department of Design and Innovation, The Open University, Milton Keynes, UK.
Proceedings of the 3rd International Conference on Visual and Spatial Reasoning in Design
MIT, Cambridge MA, July 2004.
Abstract. Sketching research so far has focused on sketching in a particular phase in specific design domains. This paper draws on descriptions of design processes given by designers from a wide variety of domains, as part of a research project on comparisons across design domains. A comparison across design domains draws attention to the multiple roles and forms sketching can take in idea generation and communication. Sketches are used as depictions of potential objects in idea generation, but also as thinking aids for reasoning about abstract concepts. They are used in those domains, such as software design, where there is no pictorial description of the product, but also in more visual design domains such as engineering design, to sketch out abstract properties. Sketches are a vital means of communicating design ideas. This paper also looks at the way the functions of sketches are performed by other media in those domains that don’t produce visual products, as well as additional media in those that do.
KEYWORDS. Comparative design research, design process, sketching, idea generation.
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Claudia Eckert
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Alan Blackwell
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Martin Stacey
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Prof. Chris Earl
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