Computer science articles do not usually involve freehand pencil drawings, but recently, I ran across some academic research articles on design that had scanned freehand pencil images embedded in the text. There it was—the charm of hand-drawn early concepts of various navigational structures or design templates.

There was the idiosyncratic scratchy handwriting. There were the varying lines drawn with assurance and a rough artistry. That refreshing feel of a raw pencil on paper is such an Important aspect to some creative processes. It’s tactile; it’s auditory; it’s visual.

Digital Designing

A walk-through of the office cubicles would show plenty of writing implements and surfaces—paper and whiteboards. Few go with the ubiquitous No. 2 wooden pencils, but I adore using these for design. However, when I’m busy sharpening the pencils in the electronic sharpener, I’m highly aware that I’m the only one in a large office using such pencils. My colleagues probably use mechanical ones, or pens, or digital means of design.

Digitally, there are pen and tablet setups. There are numerous drawing systems—that can offer that polished feel. What I want is more of that original raw feeling of creativity…in an art studio.

The Studio Space Analogy

An art studio is a vibrant space even when everyone is out of the room. The bare concrete floors and the walls pocked with nails for posted imagery, the leaning wooden frames for stretching canvases, the half-finished drawings and paintings, the smells of paints and charcoal, the daubs and dabs of paint on the floor—all of that evokes a freeform creativity that would enhance instructional design.

Maybe this is more of the school of thought of instructional designers not as helpdesk personnel or as technicians or even as engineers but more as artists who co-create a solid learning experience with faculty.