Presto Sketching

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.