How Sketches Can Save You During a Presentation
The Design Bloc Welcomes Brand Ambassador, Noah-Wooding Gonzalez to contribute this post about his experience with sketching and his tips on how it can be effective during a design jury/presentation. Enjoy and share!
Sketching Can Save Your Life!
(Well not really, but if you're interested in saving, time, tears, and public embarrassment ....READ ON)
LET'S START WITH A SCENARIO: If you weren’t there to present your project, would your audience and the jury be able to comprehend your project just from your pin-up? Would you be confident that your pin-up could explain your concept without you speaking one word?
If you answered no, then you may be missing key information that will make your presentation cohesive; The simple habit of stopping for five or ten minutes to just sketch ideas and to plan out your design, can clarify your concept to the jurors more visually.
Check out this video by The Design Bloc, created by Noah, that helps explains this concept more:
Why Does Sketching Help?
If you feel that this is unimportant, imagine watching a movie that goes instantly from exposition to climax to resolution. You know the smaller moments and decisions that occurred in-between these plot points, but they were never addressed in the movie, leaving you with questions and feeling unsatisfied. This is your presentation without sketches, just unanswered questions.
The reason sketches and drawings carry so much importance is because they fill in those blanks and show what led you to the final product. Before constructing any model, there should be a series of sketches, even after you've planned out designs. It always helps to continue sketching different aspects of your proposal.
Want to see The Design Bloc's supplies list to help with your sketching skills?
Be sure to read to the end!
Being Ready for The Critiques
By the time critique day rolls around you will have a surplus of sketches at your disposal (sections, relationships, plans, elevation, axons, site, abstractions etc.). Not only will you
produce higher quality work, you can show what went through your mind at every moment in your process to the jurors. This habit should extend far beyond studio, by
constantly drawing ideas, designs, or architectural spaces.
Practicing this technique can be useful to grow how you perceive and understand architecture; at the same time improve how you communicate your concepts to your peers and future colleagues in architecture.
Want To Up Your Sketching Game?
If you are interested in documenting your process, check out our recommendations from our suggested sketching supplies list. Click links below for direct access to the product pages. (NOTE: This is a growing list. We will always be adding to it as new products continue to roll-out to help you)
Sketchbooks:
1 ) Moleskine Notebook (un-ruled)
A true classic: Get Yours Here
This general purpose, heavyweight sketch paper is intended for practice of techniques or quick studies with any dry media
Media Applications: Graphite pencil, colored pencil, charcoal, sketching stick, soft pastel, oil pastel
Lightly-textured, matte cover in dark chocolate brown with durable myth-sewn binding allows pages to lay flatter
Surface: Fine Tooth
Weight: 60 lb. (25" x 38" x 500 sheets)
A sketchbook with special paper designed to work with Pen+ in dotted layout.
Coded technology allows the Pen+ to recognize where it is in the paper tablet and capture each pen stroke; app then transfers freehand notes from page to screen.
Set includes paper tablet, Pen+ smartpen, USB cable for smartpen recharging, one pen tip, ink refill, and user manual.
Imported.
Perfect for daily personal use, or a gift for a design lover.
Pens:
One of the go-to's in the design and architecture field. This pack comes with 6 assorted pens with varying line-weights to help you achieve a quality line, hatch, or stippling techniques.
Markers:
Perfect for strokes, marker blends, and transfers on paper, acrylic, ceramic, and more. Packed in a slotted tabletop cube, 25 rich, vibrant landscape colors are perfect for blending and shading, and won't streak or feather. Professional grade, and long lasting!
Dual-ended markers featuring both fine and chisel tips
Advanced dye-based ink formulation for richly saturated color and superior blending
Fine point lays down sharp lines while the chisel tip creates multiple line widths
Single source of ink guarantees color consistency at both ends.
Want to Add to Our On-going Supplies List?
Have anymore recommendations? Want to add to the list?
Feel free to send us an email to info@thedesignbloc.com
