SEEING INTO SKETCHES: REGROUPING PARTS ENCOURAGES NEW INTERPRETATIONS

One surprising benefit of sketches is the insights they provide to the sketcher. Sketches are ambiguous, allowing even their creators to reinterpret them, a process more difficult to do in the mind. How is it that sketchers can see new things in their own sketches? One possibility is that they regroup the parts into new wholes, with different meanings. A protocol analyses of an experienced architect confirmed this hypothesis: regrouping parts of sketch drove detection of new features in sketches. Further, novices who adopted this strategy generated more interpretations of ambiguous sketches than those who didn't adopt the strategy. Regrouping seems to be a general skill for generating multiple interpretations, applicable to many kinds of sketches. Encouraging this skill should enhance design.