Why You Should Always Start With a Sketch

There’s a reason why so many designers and artists still work with pencil and paper. When you start with a sketch, you can quickly experiment with ideas, explore different concepts and get more visual feedback from your client than if you were to start in Illustrator or Sketch. When creating a concept boards for your sketch you need to collect first some images.

A sketch is the first step in almost any design process, even if it’s just a few lines on the back of an envelope to help you remember an idea later on.

The beauty of starting with pencil and paper is that it forces you to think visually and express your ideas without worrying too much about how they’re going to look in the end. You’re not trying to make something pixel perfect or pixel perfect at all — just good enough for now because it’s important to stay focused on the bigger picture.

UX designers are constantly trying to find new ways to improve the user experience. Designers want to create intuitive experiences that guide users through the process of completing a task. The best way to do this is by starting with a sketch.

Sketching is how we’ve been designing for centuries. It’s an essential part of the design process that helps us communicate our ideas visually. And it’s not just for visual designers — everyone on your team should be involved in sketching.

Here are some reasons why sketching has become a staple in UX design:

It helps you think through problems

Sketching allows you to quickly explore different solutions, which helps you identify problems and find new opportunities early in the design process. It also allows you to develop your ideas without getting bogged down in detail or unnecessary complexity. You can quickly iterate on your sketches as they evolve into higher fidelity prototypes or static screens.

The first thing you should ask yourself is: Why do I want to create a sketch?

The answer might be that you’re trying to communicate an idea to your team. Or perhaps it’s because you need to capture the essence of a concept before you can proceed with development. Or maybe you just want to practice sketching because it helps you think more clearly and solve problems faster.

Whatever your reason may be, there’s no doubt that sketching is a valuable skill for designers and developers alike. But not all drawings are created equal. Some are better than others at capturing the essence of an idea without getting lost in the details. And some are simply more effective at communicating ideas than others.

“Sketching” is an umbrella term for a variety of different drawing methods used by designers and developers alike — from quick scribbles on paper (like stick figures) to highly refined digital wireframes and mockups using tools like Sketch, Adobe XD or Marvel (which we’ll get into later). The important thing is that whatever method you choose should allow you to quickly explore different solutions and generate feedback from others along the way with minimal effort on their part.

When I was in design school, we were taught that you should always start with a sketch. The sketch is a way to flesh out your ideas before you commit them to your computer, where they can be lost or forgotten.

But even though I was taught this lesson early in my career and have been doing it ever since, I still get asked why I insist on starting with a sketch. After all, there are tons of apps out there that make it easy to create wireframes and mockups. And if you use one of them instead of a traditional pen-and-paper approach, why bother with the hassle?

I’ve made it no secret that I’m a visual person. I think in images. I can’t write unless I have a pen in my hand. When I was younger, I would use my hands to describe things for other people to understand what I was trying to say.

Sketching is a natural part of my process. It helps me organize my thoughts and communicate my ideas more clearly. When you sketch something out first, it makes the rest of the process easier because you already have an idea of what you want your final product to look like.

There are several benefits to sketching:

  • It helps you get started, which is one of the most difficult parts of any project or task we take on;
  • It helps you gain perspective on how much time it will take to accomplish each step;
  • It provides structure and organization for your work;
  • It allows others to see what you’re thinking;
  • It promotes communication with your team members or collaborators;

Read more on how to communicate with artist so that you will know their needs.