Table Of Content
Presto Sketching
The Magic of Simple Drawing for Brilliant Product
Thinking and Design
Ben Crothers
Presto Sketching
by Ben Crothers Copyright © 2017 Ben Crothers. All rights reserved.
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978-1-49199428-3
LSI
Dedication
For Yvonne.
Your love and energy live on.
Preface
YOU PROBABLY KNOW AT least three languages.
I can think of two, right off the bat. You speak and write at least one formal
language (you’re using one to read this, right?), and you use your body
(nonverbal language). You’ve probably honed your spoken and written language
at school and work, and you honed your body language along the way, too.
Your third language, which may be less obvious, is your visual language:
sketching, drawing, using emojis, using photos and stock images in your
presentations—it’s all visual communication. For most of us, we dropped our
visual language early in school, and our two most valuable twins of
communication—words and pictures—have been separated ever since!
I’ve been using visual communication in my career as a designer for many years
and in many ways, mostly by sketching on paper and sketching on whiteboards.
But I’ve found that what’s become more and more important is not only
sketching to show interfaces and customer experiences, but sketching to think,
and sketching to help others think. My pen has become a powerful thought
partner for me and my team.
I’ve also been teaching people for many years to bring those twins of words and
pictures back together again, and use their pens as thought partners, too. I’ve
seen sketching lift people’s thinking, and I’ve seen sketching help people find
their true direction in life.
That’s why I’ve written Presto Sketching: The Magic of Simple Drawing for
Brilliant Product Thinking and Design: to help you use sketching as your
thought partner, too.
There are loads of books about this sort of sketching already around (and they’re
great!), but I want to help fill what I see as the gap between knowing the
potential of sketching, and actually being taught how to do it, in understandable,
incremental steps, to produce satisfying results.
I really want to emphasize that the techniques you’ll read about in Presto
Sketching are not unique; they’re pretty universal and have been around forever.
I don’t lay claim to any of them (except some of the visual patterns presented
later in the book), and like any language, they will continue to grow and change
over the years. I chose the word “Presto” because to me, that’s what sketching
feels like: it’s light, rapid, fun, and just a bit magical.
These techniques have meant so much to me, and I want to spread them from my
work out to you, and to those whom you want to help. So, grab a marker, and
join me as we sketch our futures together!
Acknowledgments
First, “big ups” to all the art teachers out there. You’re not only teaching us how
to express ourselves, but how to see, and that’s so important. Thank you to my
own high school art teacher, Donald McLean, for your encouragement (it has
helped me more than you’ll ever know) and for teaching me that precision
matters, in so many ways.
Utmost gratitude goes to my friend and mentor Jeff Patton, not only for
introducing me to O’Reilly in the first place, but for his valuable feedback,
guidance, and encouragement. Oh, and that document scanner that you gave me
over dinner is in regular use. There’s no end to your generosity!
Huge thanks and praise go to all the interviewees in this book: Alex, Andrew,
Devon, Glenn, Jacqui, John, Justin, and Matt. I’ve been so inspired by your
stories, and I can’t wait for others to be inspired by them, too; they are the heart
and soul of this book. Cuddles and fist bumps to you all. We did it!
High fives and toasts of appreciation also go to my group of early reviewers:
Ash Alluri, Georgie Bottomley, Ross Chaldecott, Mark Elizondo, Valter Fatia,
Marti Gold, Dreu Harrison, Narelle Hooper, Alice Howard-Vyse, Ron Lui,
Andrew Mackie, Kristi Mansfield, Heather Martinez, Jay Rogers, Michelle
Scott, and Ian Stalvies. Thank you for always believing that this was going to be
a thing, especially in those times when I didn’t.
Thanks and hugs to the gang at General Assembly in Sydney for letting me teach
sketching (and test the techniques that are in this book), and to the fabulous
O’Reilly team for your boundless energy, patience, enthusiasm, and brilliant
can-do attitude in bringing Presto Sketching to life.
And finally, a huge thank you to my own family for their bucketloads of
patience listening to me banging on so much about Presto Sketching, for their
love and support, and for the well-timed words of wisdom.
Part I. Presto Sketching
Preparation
SKETCHING IS BOTH A physical and a mental activity, so consider this first
section of Presto Sketching your physical and mental warm-up. This section will
help set you up for success.
To begin, let’s take some time to understand how visual communication works
in our world, and how to shore up our confidence for sketching. We’ll also take
a look at what materials you should get your hands on.
Chapter 1. Introduction
BORING MEETINGS. LONG, DENSE business presentations. Foggy strategy.
Lame ideas. Confused teams. You’re about to kiss all those goodbye, by
becoming a Presto Sketcher.
Presto Sketching is a clever way of using simple drawing to better explore
problems, better explain concepts, and better envision new ideas. I’ve helped
loads of product teams and managers use simple sketching in these ways, and
I’ve been teaching these methods for years. All of them have discovered the
sheer unbridled magic that sketching can bring to their work and their lives, and
now it’s your turn!
In this introduction, I’d like to show you a few things:
That you’re about to discover (or rediscover?) how sketching is the
gateway to better thinking
What you’ll get from this book (and what you won’t)
How to use the contents of this book to hone your sketching skills in the
best way
Sketching: Your Untapped Superpower
You’re probably thinking that this is a book about sketching. And it is. I want to
help you be a better sketcher. I want to help you be more confident in bringing
what is in your head out onto paper and into the world.
But I also want to show you how sketching is one of your greatest untapped
