Wait, what?!

Over the years of teaching Design Sketching at various institutions, I’ve noticed a recurring misconception. Students often walk into their first class assuming it’s a drawing class. They expect to learn how to perfectly render products, thinking of sketching merely as a tool to visualize and communicate their ideas.

However, when you’ve worked in Industrial Design for a while, you know better. Brilliant ideas don’t just appear out of nowhere. They’re the result of hard work—trial and error, reflection, and collaboration.

And this is where sketching comes in. In the messy, iterative process of developing an idea—when we’re nurturing the fragile seed of a concept—sketching is invaluable. Sketching is not about creating perfect drawings. It’s about thinking visually, exploring possibilities, and gaining deeper insight into the design challenge at hand.

As historian David McCullough once said, "To write well is to think clearly." I believe the same applies to sketching: To sketch well is to think clearly. Sketching is more than a means of communication—it is a tool for creative problem-solving, a way to shape and refine ideas before they fully take form.

Unlike “drawing,” which often implies a focus on polished outcomes, “sketching” emphasizes open-ended exploration. That’s what this course is all about: building your sketching skills to help you work confidently and fluently, so you can tap into your full creative potential.

Welcome to the Design Sketching Foundation Track—let’s get started!