<p>Designers routinely create informal “thinking” and “talking” sketches during the early phases of the design process in order to explore and communicate design ideas and concepts. This study proposes a rubric and methodology for assessing the quality of novice designers’ early stage&nbsp; design sketches including measuring metrics such as line smoothness, proportion, and understandability. The study finds a positive correlation between sketch quality and understandability, which indicates the importance of sketch quality when using sketches as a communication tool during the prototyping process. Results indicate that early stage sketch quantity is linked with design outcomes, though in contrast, sketch quality is not indicated to have a strong correlation with design outcomes. In addition, the study also finds a link between having higher frequency of sketching and having higher maximum sketch quality scores (eg. at least one excellent sketch) as well as a correlation between the individuals’ maximum sketch quality scores and their overall design outcomes. This study presents a new tool to capture what is learned by the designer after each iteration of a prototype. Preliminary results indicate that reflection on both the technical and emotional aspects of prototyping may be valuable and should be an area of further study.</p>

Assessing Early Stage Design Sketches and Reflections on Prototyping

Paper Proceedings: https://asmedigitalcollection.asme.org/IDETC-CIE/IDETC-CIE2021/volume/85369

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