The design sketching process

Abstract

Sketching the what-if situation provided insight into alternative design possibilities, and gave an idea of how the sketched design will work in the context at hand. Though software provided possibilities of creating a high fidelity executable prototype at a very fast pace, here sketches that were non-executable drawings of the envisioned system, are investigated. The sketches were used in various forms within the development team as well as in collaboration with external experts and users. Where issues of usability and technical requirements are often dealt with separately, this approach suggest simulation through drawings of the context of use and the different users' needs. This turned the design sketching period into both an analysis and interaction design of the new envisioned work processes, as well as gave input to the future production process. The case study illustrating this design sketching process from rough drawings of conceptualisations and detailed storyboards of functionalities was the development of an e-learning platform tbr case-based learning. © 2006 International Federation for Information Processing.