Demistifying the Doodle

A doodle is the very first step in turning an idea into a design.

We sketch and doodle all the time as we develop designs here at Kahoots. But I’ll never forget the intimidation factor that drawing used to have for me. I was so sure there was a right and a wrong way to do it. For some people, the idea of drawing can be just as scary as public speaking.

I’ve believed for a while now that we all come by drawing naturally, and not just designers and artists, everybody. I’m not talking about drawing like Michelangelo, that takes years of training of course! What I am talking about is the kind of sketching or doodling that allows us to express the ideas in our head and then change and evolve them.

In design classes that I’ve taught I’ve seen sixth graders learn to use drawing as a tool for critical thinking at the same level that first year college design students do. The kind of drawing that you might do in a class or in a meeting or that my mom does when she is chatting on the phone. I remember being mesmerized by her repeating swirls and dots that filled the note pad by our phone in the kitchen. According to Sunni Brown, that phone doodling meant that my Mom was giving her fullest attention to the dear friend on the other end of the line.

Do you find yourself  intimidated by the thought of drawing, of putting your ideas on paper? I love the research that Sunni Brown presents in this Ted talk proving that even you are a natural born Doodler!