Ben Crothers - Presto Sketching: The Magic of Simple Drawing for Brilliant Product Thinking and Design

• 2017-10-31: First Release

YOU PROBABLY KNOW AT least three languages.

I can think of two, right off the bat. You speak and write at least one formal language (youre using one to read this, right?), and you use your body (nonverbal language). Youve probably honed your spoken and written language at school and work, and you honed your body language along the way, too.

Your third language, which may be less obvious, is your visual language: sketching, drawing, using emojis, using photos and stock images in your presentationsits all visual communication. For most of us, we dropped our visual language early in school, and our two most valuable twins of communicationwords and pictureshave been separated ever since!

Ive been using visual communication in my career as a designer for many years and in many ways, mostly by sketching on paper and sketching on whiteboards. But Ive found that whats become more and more important is not only sketching to show interfaces and customer experiences, but sketching to think, and sketching to help others think. My pen has become a powerful thought partner for me and my team.

Ive also been teaching people for many years to bring those twins of words and pictures back together again, and use their pens as thought partners, too. Ive seen sketching lift peoples thinking, and Ive seen sketching help people find their true direction in life.

Thats why Ive written Presto Sketching: The Magic of Simple Drawing for Brilliant Product Thinking and Design: to help you use sketching as your thought partner, too.

There are loads of books about this sort of sketching already around (and theyre great!), but I want to help fill what I see as the gap between knowing the potential of sketching, and actually being taught how to do it, in understandable, incremental steps, to produce satisfying results.

I really want to emphasize that the techniques youll read about in Presto Sketching are not unique; theyre pretty universal and have been around forever. I dont lay claim to any of them (except some of the visual patterns presented later in the book), and like any language, they will continue to grow and change over the years. I chose the word Presto because to me, thats what sketching feels like: its light, rapid, fun, and just a bit magical.

These techniques have meant so much to me, and I want to spread them from my work out to you, and to those whom you want to help. So, grab a marker, and join me as we sketch our futures together!

Part I. Presto Sketching Preparation

SKETCHING IS BOTH A physical and a mental activity, so consider this first section of Presto Sketching your physical and mental warm-up. This section will help set you up for success.

To begin, lets take some time to understand how visual communication works in our world, and how to shore up our confidence for sketching. Well also take a look at what materials you should get your hands on.

Chapter 1. Introduction

BORING MEETINGS. LONG, DENSE business presentations. Foggy strategy. Lame ideas. Confused teams. Youre about to kiss all those goodbye, by becoming a Presto Sketcher.

Presto Sketching is a clever way of using simple drawing to better explore problems, better explain concepts, and better envision new ideas. Ive helped loads of product teams and managers use simple sketching in these ways, and Ive been teaching these methods for years. All of them have discovered the sheer unbridled magic that sketching can bring to their work and their lives, and now its your turn!