The Miseducation of the Doodle. In the winter of 1969, Virginia Scofield faced a daunting challenge. It was a recurring challenge—more like a nightmare—and she had already failed miserably at her first attempt. This particular obstacle was one that most people consider themselves lucky to never face: undergraduate organic chemistry. Article Continues Below At the time, Virginia was a biological sciences student at the University of Texas.
Her career plan bumper sticker could have read “Ph.D. or Death!” As there was no alternate route to pursuing her doctorate. Having exhausted traditional learning methods such as highlighting, note-taking, and rote memorization, Virginia chose to unleash a powerful, primitive tool that ultimately turned out to be her savior: The Doodle. So what exactly does it mean “to doodle?” Doodling may be better described as ‘markings to help a person think.’ That last benefit of the doodle is no slouch. The strategic doodle#section1 Please, doodle at work#section2 The visual alphabet#section3 1. 2. Sketching: the Visual Thinking Power Tool. As a kid, I spent hours drawing and sketching ideas that popped into my head. Article Continues Below I used drawing as a primary language for capturing thoughts, exploring ideas, and then sharing those ideas.
Teachers and mentors encouraged me, helping to sustain sketching as a key skill throughout school and into my professional career. Good fortune has ignited my passion to become a sketch advocate, helping others rediscover sketching as a powerful problem-solving and communication tool. I’m excited to share why sketching can be so beneficial, show samples of sketches, and provide helpful resources. My goal is to encourage you—whether you’re a designer, front-end developer, coder, writer or whatever you may be—to add sketching to your toolkit.
But I can’t sketch—I’m not an artist! When I suggest sketching as a visual thinking tool, I often I hear “I’m not an artist” or “I can’t draw.” When you feel inadequate in your sketching, pause and reconsider your perspective. Fig 1. 1. Fig 2. 2. Brave the Woods. Pretty Sketchy. Pretty Sketchy | Jason Santa Maria. I seem to be getting into many conversations lately on the merits of keeping a sketchbook. Almost everyone agrees they are a good idea, but surprisingly few actually do it. The excuse I hear most often from non-sketchers is “I can’t draw”. And now I’ll tell you what I told them: Sketchbooks are not about being a good artist, they’re about being a good thinker. Obviously, some people bring the practice of sketching to a higher art form, but to me it’s always been about visual brainstorming and record-keeping in a format with a ridiculously low barrier to entry.
My drawings look like shit, but fidelity doesn’t matter as long as I can convey my ideas to others or to my future self. We should revel in not caring how good or bad we are, and by knowing that our means for thinking has improved with each stroke of our pencils. I’m trying to get myself into the habit of filling up a page or so a day. In the spirit of awareness, I’ve set up a Flickr group for this very purpose.