An application helping designers sketch, collaborate and share ideas – whenever, wherever.
ROLE
I planned and developed this concept through concept driven research as part of my thesis in digital design.
TIMELINE
April – June 2020
WHAT I DID
- Concept driven research and design of an application for collaborative sketching.
- Qualitative research such as usability tests, user interviews.
- Designed high-level UI mockups.
TOOLS
1. Introduction
The project was triggered from discussions with designers on the high benefits and low costs of sketching during all phases of a design process. After interviews with design students and professionals, I noticed there is a need to use sketching as a tool to iterate ideas more often, both as an individual designer and in collaborations.
2. Problem
There are digital platforms for sketching wireframes or collaborating in a virtual workshop, but non of them are developed for idea generation beyond the wireframes. I find it intriguing how sketching, with simple shapes and lines, can help translate difficult contexts into meaningful insights and I got curious about how such a digital sketching platform could help bring meaningful insight to designers in their collaborative design process. So, I conducted 5 moderated 30min interviews with designers. From these sessions, I found that designers lacked an accessible digital tool to help them scribble, sketch, ideate and collaborate, no matter where and when. According to these designer, existing digital platforms lack the possibility to sketch and collaborate ideas from the get-go when ideas cannot yet be framed and wired. They expressed a need to use pen and pencil more often in a digital and collaborative way. This made me wonder how a digital design platform might look like to promote idea development during collaborative sketching?
3. Objective
To create an application for designers and collaborators to allow them to visualise and analyse the progress toward their goals in a profitable way. I wanted to develop an available and digital tool ready to be used whenever an idea comes to mind to improve the way users:
- use sketching as an outlet for their ideas throughout a design process
- share ideas and collaborate while sketching
- choose to develop, share and improve their design work through sketching
4. Ideation
To find a possible solution I asked a group of designers to join in on participatory remote workshops to seek their opinion, knowledge and solve problems in a collaborative and creative environment. I decided to explore sketching as a method for both individuals and groups since the designers expressed a need to sketch ideas both on their own and to share and collaborate with sketches as visual words. I decided to do a concept driven design research to use as focal point on the interaction research theoretical map.
The participants were given a case to work with, both individually and in collaboration with each other. They were given different scenarios, conditions and short tasks during a period of two weeks.
To be able to conduct the workshops virtually, the assignments where given in a simulated digital platform designed in Figma. Each participant was assigned a private work area, where only the participant and I as a facilitator had access. The purpose was to give them the possibility to sketch and reflect without anyone else having an opinion and to ensure their anonymity.
They were also given access to a common work area were collaborative sketching would be explored.
Based on how the participants collaborated and what they thought about the different work areas, I could conclude that while the users found the different work areas useful, they found it hard to collaborate with the given tools in Figma. Figma is an appreciated and frequently used digital and collaborative platform for designers, but it is not made for sketching beyond wireframing. The user is put in a situation with constraints and the tool gets in the way instead of making the way in the design process. It was obvious that the participants needed a better experience to accomplish their desired tasks.
5. Testing and solution
The initial wireframes mapped out the preferred user flows that I found would be the easiest for the user. These wireframes included all of the features I originally thought was necessary based on the data from the workshops. After each workshop session I developed and tested the application. Based on my findings from the user research I decided to:
Create a digital and accessible space with high affordance where individuals and teams can sketch their ideas throughout a design process.
Strengthen the usability through mapping where users can feel in control of the outcome of their choices.
6. Impact
I let designers test the application in their daily work for a week and found that they experienced it easier to explore and share ideas and sketches as they worked with design projects. Since they could use it on their mobiles they found it more accessible to sketch on the go. They would appreciate some kind of integration with platforms such as Sketch or Figma, but even without one they could see themselves using the application on a regular basis in their design work.
7. Reflection
- sketching as a method for thinking individually and in teams is hard even for designers, but it does get easier with practice
- users appreciate thinking through sketches and found that it helped them communicate their thoughts even without words
- sketching can improve both individual and collaborative idea generation and iteration creating more effective ways to communicate in teams