About​​​​​​​

Brain sketching is a brainstorming method, where a group of designers solves a design problem by passing around sketches, improving upon them, and adding ideas. You can also have different teams working on different design projects, brain sketching together. Brain sketching works by combining the imaginations of a group of designers and by free association, which is when one idea triggers another idea in your mind.

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What you need

• A4 or A3 printer paper for sketching, pens or pencils, and a box of large paper clips.
• Your completed Problem Statement (IV) from the DEFINE stage.
• A group of designers to brain sketch together.
  • About 2 to 10 people can successfully brain sketch together.
  • Whether you are doing an individual or a group design project, you may still brain sketch together.
• A place with chairs and tables to brain sketch freely without distractions.
• About an hour to do it properly. Note that the bigger the group, the longer the brain sketching session takes.

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Method

The designer or design team begins by reading their problem statement to the participants. If there is more than one project, then each team reads their problem statement to begin. The participants sit around a large table, or in a circle of chairs, with enough space to work comfortably and undisturbed. Follow these steps:

• In the first round, each participant draws one or more sketches of their design concept, one sketch idea per page, annotating the sketches to explain their ideas. Allow ten minutes per round.
  • Once everyone has finished, they sign their sketches, clip them together, and pass them to the person sitting on their left. Thus, the piles of paper move clockwise around the circle.
• In the second round, the participants examine the sketches they’ve received and develop those ideas, or come up with completely new ideas in new sketches of their own, adding annotations where necessary.
  • Once everyone has finished, they sign their sketches, add the new ones to the bottom of the pile, clip them together, and pass them to the person on their left.
• Repeat the process until each pile of sketches has completed one revolution. That is, each designer’s sketches from the first round has been seen and worked on by everyone in the group.
• At the end of the brain sketching session, each person will get their original sketches back, clipped together with a pile of new sketches filled with ideas and inspiration from the other participants.

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Tip

• A brain sketching group with 5 designers, at 10 minutes each round, will take at least 50 minutes to complete.