The value of rapid sketching as a UX/UI Designer
One of the hardest things as a new designer is to come up with ideas. I stare in terror and total blankness at empty Figma files waiting for ideas to come, and when they don’t, I scuttle away to Dribble to see what other people are doing. All because I’m scared, as a lot of us are, to sketch something that isn’t good. And that right there is the crux of the problem.
Here’s how rapid sketching has helped me work faster, be a better communicator and get really good at making bad designs.
- Avoid details
I find myself caught up in the details of a project, moving one pixel from left to right, before having even laid out the basics in front of me. Why work on the fine print when you haven’t been come up with a thesis? Details are incredibly important, but they are time-consuming and can often send you way down the wrong track.
Rapid sketching will allow you to carry out your thought process, explore different avenues, find inconsistencies, all before having wasted too much time on design details. Bad ideas need to come out before the good ones can follow.
Working rapidly doesn’t allow for me to overthink anything but rather I have to simply try things out and see what sticks. Instead of trying to find a good idea to sketch, sketch until you have a good idea.
- Visualization
If you’re the only UX Designer on your team or at your work, you’ll know what it’s like to call a meeting in order to discuss the importance of changing a button’s colour from dark blue to light blue only to have a room full of people look back at you like:
A good idea isn’t worth much if you can’t express it to others. Whether you’re working with other designers or with colleagues in other fields. Quickly sketching out ideas allows for others to visualize your thoughts and understand your concept much faster than if you simply explain it to them.
I’ve found that even the quickest of sketches can make the world of a difference in my day-to-day at work communication.
- Old-school pen and paper
Although you can obviously iterate in any format, sketching on pen and paper has completely changed my relationship to brainstorming. I still feel the same empty, blank feeling before I start but as soon I start iterating that feeling goes away. Generally, the first five or six sketches are really bad but that’s beside the point. The fact is, with each new iteration, my creativity kicks up a notch until I find myself drawing dozens of screens, reaching compulsively for the next sheet of paper to draw on.
Like many other designers, I work in mainly shared Figma or sketch files. It’s hard for me not to feel watched when experimenting and iterating which makes me less likely to go nuts with my trial and error process. That problem does not exist if I’m drawing in my notepad, in fact, it feels like a completely safe and private space where I can be silly and try things out. Once again, as a junior designer, this can feel really great and less daunting!
What is your favourite medium for rapid sketching?