As Ella Fitzgerald (and later Terry Hall) sang, It Ain’t What You Do (It’s the Way That You Do It). It’s the process of sketching wherein lies the power. The proliferation of tools for UX folk has drawn some people away from the more effective hands-on approaches. These new tools will enable you to craft your experience, but the journey that you take to get there is the difference between delivering a good and a great experience.
As for those who hide behind the excuse that they can’t sketch. That’s baloney! Providing you can draw a few lines, boxes and even circles then you can visualize your idea as well as the next person. You don’t need to have advanced sketching skills.
Everyone can and must sketch. If not, then you’re in the wrong profession. No other tools IMHO achieves all of the following:-
- It’s inclusive. A sketch is democratic, in its creation and in its understanding. Anyone can do it. Sketching breaks down barriers by making everyone equal. A diagramming tool requires expertise.
- It’s collaborative. Sketching is a good way of bringing people together and getting a faster feedback loop.
- It’s disposable. If it doesn’t feel disposable then people will be reluctant to provide feedback and accept change.
- Encourages feedback. A straight line implies order and therefore, something considered or perhaps final where the wobbly hand drawn line is open, flexible, to be aesthetically ignored. Because it looks rough, people are less afraid to criticize or offer suggestions. Low fidelity is more appropriate when higher level of feedback is required. Polished concepts cam put up barriers to feedback.
- It’s Rapid. Sketching is a quick way to develop ideas and to explore different ones. Even the fastest Omnigraffler can’t beat pen & paper!
- It’s an effective communication tool. A doodle is worth a thousand words.
- Shows the Design evolution. It’s good to be able to look back at the original sketches that the final designs evolved from.
- Engages the project team & client. A sketch frames an experience without getting caught in the detail. It engages the client in the broader meaning of a solution and not the detail/minutiae. The project team and client needs to be engaged right from the offset as this helps forge a close respect and relationship which in turn produces better results.
- Puts you in to a creative mindset. Simply picking up your sharpie can put you in to the creative mindset.
- It’s transparent. It’s all about nudity. Showing a sketch is naked idea presentation, which can show confidence in your process and concept; there’s nowhere to hide. The feeling of unfinishedness puts the focus more on the idea and the essence rather than inaccuracies or omissions.
Sketching is an essential tool in every UX Practitioners toolkit, and should be used at early concepting stages, when feedback and collaboration is most critical. Formal deliverables can come later once the design options have been explored with pen & paper.
Note: Some of the above has been reproduced from one of my posts several years back. I’m currently having a spring clean and closing down all my previous blogs, and therefore ‘borrowing’ a few bits here and there before they get lost forever.