Transitioning from Physical to Digital Sketchbooks for Industrial Design Education

Date

2015-01-01

Author

Şener Pedgley, Bahar
Şen, Güzin

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

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An essential element of industrial design education is the project sketchbook, traditionally submitted as a physical (paper-based) portfolio. However, the ability for such sketchbooks to capture design decision-making and project progress made through increasingly digital design tools is ineffective. To help formulate a solution to this problem, the authors undertook a feasibility study to examine opportunities and barriers of transitioning from physical to digital student sketchbooks. Stage 1 of the research classified the content of approximately 50 paper-based student sketchbooks, illuminating the possible content of a digital equivalent. In stage 2, semi-structured interviews were made with five instructors and five students regarding perceived strengths and weaknesses of physical and digital sketchbooks. Stage 3 comprised a technology review, deciding on a system comprising Apple iPad, AluPen stylus, Sketchbook Pro and Dropbox. In stage 4, six students generated digital sketchbooks during a short concept design project, followed by a post-project questionnaire. Major conclusions include: (i) all students appreciated the portability and professional visualization offered by the digital system; (ii) all students resorted at some point back to paper-based sketching, revealing inadequacies in the chosen system; and (iii) considerable training is needed for students to generate a digital sketchbook effectively

Subject Keywords

Visual Arts and Performing Arts

URI

https://hdl.handle.net/11511/48488

Collections

Department of Industrial Design, Article