PENSIERI - An Inquiry into Sketching and Modelling in Design

Licentiate thesis, 2015

When proposing ideas for design solutions, designers often make representations, for example sketches and models of different kinds. This thesis seeks to examine what designers do when interacting with different media to externalise their ideas, and the resources they have at their disposal. In two studies, students and experienced design practitioners were asked to describe their working processes. The first study made use of weekly design diaries of 11 masters students, collected during a seven-week project course. Furthermore, semi-structured interviews were held with 11 practitioners regarding the process of creating their latest award winning products. They discussed what they were able to achieve and how the media and representations they used enabled them to do so. The findings of these studies highlight (i) the roles of sketching, and physical and digital modelling for ideation in individual designer’s work, and (ii) some prominent qualities of media and representations that support designers during these activities, for example the extent to which they are malleable, accurate, or fixed. By providing a taxonomy for classifying various media and design representations, these findings expand on previous conceptions about sketching and modelling. An increased understanding of how ideas emerge and are materialised in the early phases of a design process, can provide opportunities for facilitating and stimulating the act of creation.