Using concept sketches to track design progress
Section snippets
Sketching in conceptual design
During the early (conceptual) stages of design, the sketchpad is used widely to express ideas and has been referred to as the medium of reflection-in-action[12]. In his work, Schon[12]suggests that through drawing, designers construct a `virtual world' where the drawing reveals qualities and relations unimagined beforehand. Sketches are representations which will often allow the designer to `try out' a new idea on paper, quickly and cheaply. Schon also notes that while drawing can be rapid and
Transformation typology
One of the most detailed studies of the act of sketching was conducted by Goel[16]. He identified two types of operation occurring between successive sketches in the early stages of design, namely lateral transformations and vertical transformations shown in Fig. 1.
In a lateral transformation, movement is from one idea to a slightly different idea. In a vertical transformation, movement is from one idea to a more detailed and exacting version of the same idea. Fig. 1 shows sketches made as part
Methodology
In the study described here, eight students were selected from a class of 22 by teaching staff. This paper will only describe the sketching activities of three of the eight students that were initially selected. This selection is intended to illustrate a range of activity and varying scale of project. In line with recent work on ethnographic methods17, 18, the students were observed at work on their individual, self-driven projects. These projects constitute a major part of the MEng. Product
Results and discussion
This section presents results of the three student designers' sketching activities involved in the study. The results achieved have been separated into two elements. First the number and transformation balance (i.e. lateral against vertical percentage) of sketches produced during the observation period (Section 4.1) and, second, a week by week record of the complexity and transformation progress of each student's sketching activity is presented (Section 4.2).
The observer (third author) studied
Conclusions and future work
This study has confirmed that freehand sketching is prevalent in the conceptual phase of design and that the sketching activity has peaks and troughs of both lateral and vertical transformations over time. In this way, sketches can provide insight into the designer's mode of thinking at any particular point in the design process. It is hoped that this reflexive analysis will provide a basis to support more effective and efficient use of the designer's time and effort.
In addition, the work
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank the M. Eng. Product Design Engineering students at the University of Glasgow who participated in the study for their cooperation and for the loan of sketchbook material.
References (22)
Natural intelligence in design
Design Studies
(1999)The electronic cocktail napkin: a computational environment for working with design diagrams
Design Studies
(1996)- et al.
Visible ideas: information patterns of conceptual sketch activity
Design Studies
(1998) - et al.
Macroscopic analysis of design processes based on a scheme for coding designers' cognitive actions
Design Studies
(1998) - et al.
Design fixation
Design Studies
(1991) - et al.
Design and other types of fixation
Design Studies
(1996) - Pipes, A Drawing for 3-Dimensional Design: Concepts, Illustration, Presentation Thames and Hudson, London...
- Lawson, B Design in Mind Butterworth Architecture, Oxford...
- Bucciarelli, L Designing Engineers The MIT Press, Cambridge, MA...
The electronic design notebook: performing medium and processing medium
Visual Computer
(1989)