Pragmatic Sketching

By: Eva-Lotta Lamm

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9QOMg7m8u9Q

Most people feel like they can't sketch, not creative enough
Sketching is really useful for conveying and storing information
In Pragmatic sketching We are not drawing for drawing sake, we draw for a purpose.
This helps develop thoughts, as well as communicate them to others
Sketching is a quick technique...
... but, it allows us to also be clear.
Sketching can be thought of as a decision making process, in real time.
With experience, we can make this decision making process faster and clearer.

Guidelines for Pragmatic Sketching

Formal clarity: seeing the form of what we are thinking of, a square, should look like a square.
Clarity is about reducing the visual noise leads to clear articulation.
Stress is the enemy of Formal clarity.
To increase Formal clarity, we just need practice.
A line should stand on the page confidently and clearly -> Take your time to draw your lines from beginning to end.
Sketching is fast not because you draw quickly, but because you are economic with your strokes.
When you draw shapes, lift your pen after each stroke, to increase formal clarity.
Close your shapes, in order to make them clearer.
Keep breathing: If in doubt, simply slow down.

What are the elements that we're drawing, and what are their relationship to each other?
This type of clarity is more about observing what I do, rather than actually moving your hands.
Composition of objects from very simple shapes:

Composition Process

We are making a shitty first draft so we can draw over an through
1. Start with thinking of the different shapes an object is made of
2. Draw the shapes as you think of them
3. Examine the proportions and fix them in your next iterations
4. Refine the shapes a bit, in order to add additional clarity
5. Think of which and where additional details could go in terms of context.

Not about where the shapes are, or how your hands move, but the thoughts behind your sketches.
Who is my audience? What do I want to convey? What does my audience know? In which context am I conveying my message?
We can conceptually examine what we're drawing by looking at the iconic silhouettes.
If and only if that fails, we can add details, but there's a better way...
... we can add more context rather than detail:
- If we're drawing a car and it's unclear, we can add a road, and maybe another shitty car.
- If we're drawing a phone, add a hand that holds it, instead of the home button.
If in doubt, we can simply add a label as well. This technique is not to bar words from usage, they work very well with sketches.
Dual Coding: Once we define a visual vocabulary once with labels, we can then reuse images throughout our sketches.
Labels are useful not only for "zooming out" i.e. adding context. They are also great for "zooming in" i.e. adding details and precision.

Sketching can be a process for generating knowledge, not just for illustrating an already existing thought. Sketching is a quick and easy way to start making stuff.
Drawing is creating visual traces of your thoughts, which you can refer to later.