Visual Notes

My week has been a busy one and I do not have as much as I would like for this week's entry.

Over the last few months, I have been looking over the literature on sketching to find several interesting references to use in exploring the area of design sketching and its value and application to the design process. In attempting to take the broadest view, I find useful the description/model given by Norman Crowe and Paul Laseau in their book, Visual Notes for Architects and Designers. Although it was published in 1984 (Van Nostrand Rienhold), the ideas presented are still relevant today, over twenty years later.

Crowe and Laseau remark that the value of design sketches or visual notes can be integrated into the creative design process in three areas: recording information, analysis of information, and solving design problems.

For the current study that I am doing, my focus is on the first area of recording information and more specifically observing environments. Design sketching is a complex area of study and covers a wide range of drawing types and disciplines. As I explore this area, I am beginning with observational sketches as a focus area. My own work in sketching will be doing observational sketches of Main Street buildings in the city center of Stevens Point, Wisconsin. I will be posting some of these sketches from time to time. As a new activity of doing a web log, I am slow and hesitant but intrigued by the medium for communication with others interested in this topic.

In trying to describe the experience of place, I am using all senses along with the visual aspects in sketching, including notes on sounds, smells and the touch of weather (there have been some very cold days out there sketching over the last month). My thoughts are somewhat disjointed as I write in this Friday’s log and I hope to organize them better as I continue in this endeavor.

Design Communication and Sketching

Design Communication and Sketching
Tuesday, 17 April 2007, Stevens Point, Wisconsin
Design communication comes in all forms and this web log is another example of that. It is an intriguing medium, the Internet, for communication and I am beginning this web log as a way to share my thoughts and interact with others who are interested in related issues and topics in reference to design sketching.

The purpose of this web log is to chronicle my own exploration into the topic of design sketching, both as an area of written study and as an area of hands-on experience with the action of doing the sketching. I am also interested in the ability to share these thoughts in an open virtual forum on the internet and I look forward to comments and responses from others across disciplines and at different knowledge levels.

Learning is continuous and this exploration project is part of my learning process in the field of design. Although my background is in the area of interior and architectural design, design sketching overlaps many disciplines where there is the process of problem solving. My intent is to submit entries (essays) weekly, typically by Friday. I will also include reflections on my study on design sketching as well as pictorial examples of my own sketching.