Sketching to learn

Now that we've covered the basics, it’s time to put your skills into action—not just to create more product sketches, but to explore and investigate new design directions!

Great ideas alone aren’t enough. As discussed in the video, design is about taking those ideas and refining them into viable solutions through experimentation and trial-and-error.

Examples of sketches from the archives of Thomas Edison.

Thomas Edison and his team went through roughly two thousand experiments before perfecting the light bulb. Their sketches weren’t about making beautiful drawings—they were tools for thinking, testing, and problem-solving.

The same applies to you. The goal here isn’t perfection—it’s clarity. You’ll use the fundamental sketching techniques from the previous module to develop ideas and gain insights, rather than just sketch for aesthetics.

A bit of theory

Read more about ideation and the principles of the 'exploratory sketching mindset' in this reference book:

This is not a drawing class

Practice

By adopting an exploratory sketching mindset, you'll learn to use sketching as a tool for experimentation, investigation, and concept development.

In this module we will train a set of exploratory sketching habits to help you stay in a creative flow.

Learning goal

• Learn how to apply your sketching skills effectively to maximize your creative potential and stay in a productive, creative flow.

Let's dive in!