Why?

I often get very good ideas for the problem statements that I am working on either while I am having a really delicious afternoon meal, or while I am going to have a good night’s sleep. The problem is that I will not have enough time to sit down and create an UI for this whole new idea that just came to my mind. Instead, I immediately open up my notebook, sketch and write down things that are easy to understand, such that if I open it after a long time, I can understand what I was thinking at that point of time.

When I’m working on a problem, my focus should be on the problem itself but not some intricate details like what should be the padding, how should the button look like, what should be the background color etc. There will come a time when I have to spend time on these intricate details and make them look great. But at this point my focus should be on more important things like

• How will this solution work?
• How is the pattern going to work?
• How is this whole thing going to fit into an existing product?
• Will this work in the long run
• If I make changes, will it affect something anywhere else in the product?

Also when I’m working with a piece of paper and a pen, there is very little friction between me and my idea. I can quickly sketch whatever is on my mind and see if it works or not. If it doesn’t, I can create one more sketch. Whereas, while using a keyboard and mouse, I’d have to put in more effort to get my idea across.

When?

It is interesting to see that different people have different opinions of when one should and shouldn’t sketch/write things down. It took me a while to figure out my own way of doing it. There’s no right or wrong here, but I will explain my way of doing things.

I’m usually in one of two modes: working on something familiar or tackling something new. If it’s familiar, I skip sketching since it feels like overkill. If it’s new, I sketch to gain clarity before designing.

I was recently working on a filter + bulk action design—a common problem solved by many products. But our requirement was that it remain consistent across tables, lists, and grid views. Sketching it out gave me clarity and helped me solve it quickly.

How?

All I need is a pen and paper. The goal of sketching isn’t accuracy but capturing the idea so it’s easy to understand later. Simple doesn’t mean vague—the sketch should have just enough detail to make sense when I revisit it.

When I say simple, it doesn’t mean vague. The sketch should have enough detail so the idea is clear and makes sense when I revisit it later.

Happy Sketching!