INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON DESIGNING PLEASURABLE PRODUCTS AND INTERFACES, DPPI09
13- 16 OCTOBER 2009, COMPIEGNE UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY, COMPIEGNE, FRANCE
SPEED SKETCHING WITH DESIGNERS:
USER INSPIRED BRAINSTORMING
ABSTRACT
This paper describes a method called speed sketching, which utilizes user data as inspiration in a brainstorm-like
session. The user data comes from a design probe study of an entrance to a building. One challenge with usercentered design is to give life to user data in the design process. A design workshop was held with five designers
as participators. During the workshop speed sketching was used and evaluated through analysis of the sketches, a
semi-structured questionnaire and discussions with the designers. The findings of the study show that the user
data consisting of dream and horror stories of entrances provided input that could be used in a creative manner.
Merely illustrating the stories as such seems to give less creative results than using the stories as a more general
source of inspiration. Based on the study performed here speed sketching seems to be an effective and creative
way to merge data from user studies with the design process. Using sketching as a quick and expressive means
of interpreting a story created by a user of a design object provides designers with a systematic tool to creatively
use material from a design probe study..
Keywords: user centered; brainstorm; inspired; design method; design probe; speed sketching; sketching
1 INTRODUCTION
Design probes is a comparatively unobtrusive method to gather data about users’ thoughts, perceptions,
conceptions and feelings. The use of the method has spread rapidly since the publishing of the well-known study
of Gaver, Dunne, and Pacenti (1999). Mattelmäki (2006) reviews many different types of design probes and
contributes with a thorough description of the probing process. However, neither Gaver et al. (1999) nor
Mattelmäki (2006) provide any in-depth description of possible methods to make use of the material collected
with probes. Given that probe material is a direct user generated material, and that it seems to be used in design
contexts where empathetic insights, interpretation and rich materials are preferred, we wanted to try a method
following these principles. We therefore suggest speed sketching as a method that use probe material as user
input in the design process. We set the method up to force the designers to engage with the probe material and
expressing themselves through sketches. Thus, the method could take on the challenge of transforming probe
material from being a direct user material to being a rich designer material. Because there are few studies
looking at the use of probe material in this detailed manner, the purpose of the study was to find out how well
the speed sketching method took on the challenge.
2
PAPER LAYOUT AND STYLES
BACKGROUND
There are no strict rules that define what a design probe is and what it contains. However, in reviewing several
design probe studies Mattelmäki (2006) points out similarities and differences amongst different uses of the
probes. The probing process usually starts with a stage called “tuning in”, which is where the researcher gets in
touch with the topic under study. The next stage, “probing”, is where the users engage themselves in the work
with the probes and thus data is generated, which is followed by interpretation and ideation. Mattelmäki briefly
describes two different probing processes. In one of them the probes are used as empathy probes, with emphasis
on “the desire to create an understanding of the phenomena” (Mattelmäki, 2006, p. 97). Here the probing process
is followed by some first interpretations of the data, which then guides deepening interviews with the users. This
acts as a base for “multi-disciplinary interpretations, dialogue, ideation workshops and sharing the results”
(Mattelmäki, 2006, p. 97). In the other process the probes are used as sources of inspiration, so called cultural
probes. Here the data from the probes are directly used to support concept ideation, without the deepening
interviews with the users. This study follows the latter process, i.e. to examine a way to use the probe material as
a source of inspiration for a group of designers.
In 2007 one of the authors (Author, 2007) set up a design probe study that investigated the user experiences of a
specific entrance. The entrance was an entrance to a public building at a university, through which students,
staff, faculty, temporary visitors and guests from the cafeteria passed. Probes were given to fourteen participants,
all of them students using the specific entrance daily more or less, and they were to keep them for a period of
three weeks. They were encouraged to reflect on their use of entrances in general and one specific entrance in
particular by working with the contents of the probe.
Each probe contained an entrance journal, a map of the campus, cards allowing filling in positive and negative
experiences of entrances, postcards with questions and a disposable camera (see Figure 1). The contents of the
probe were centered on four questions:
1. How is the entrance used?
2. How is the entrance perceived in different situations?
3. How does the entrance affect people’s lives? (Does it e.g. cause problems?)
4. What is typical for a good or bad entrance?
The participants of the probe study were all students that had a lot of other things to do, which motivated the
choice of tasks that were quick to complete, easily accessible (i.e. easy to put in your bag and bring it to the
university) and fun to work with. One way to do this was the use of “emotion cards”, a kind of postcards with a
list of preprinted emotions and state of minds. There was also some room in order to let the users add other
words. The cards were placed close to the entrance together with a box, and everybody, participants of the probe
study and others, were invited to check whichever emotions or state of minds that were applicable at the time of
passing the box. Another type of postcard that was used asked the user of the entrance to pretend that he or she
was on a vacation to the building of the entrance and was to write a postcard to someone special. Some postcards
had preprinted starting sentences such as “Hey honey!” or “Dear mother”. There were also cards that asked the
user to note three positive and three negative traits of a particular entrance. The map of the campus was to be
used in order to sketch the movements on campus on a typical day for the user. The entrance journal was a place
for the users to write down their daily experiences of the entrance under study.
Figure 1. The contents of a probe. There was also a pen and a pencil included in each probe.
At the time of retrieval of the probes the participants were asked to write a either a dream story or a horror story
about an entrance. Because the stories were written after the three week period of working with the other
material the stories would contain traces of the users’ thoughts and feelings towards the entrance. Given that
probes not only are passive recording devices, or tools for externalization of feelings and thoughts, but also are
documentaries influencing the narrator, and active tools for reflective thinking, the thoughts and feelings in the
stories will be more elaborate and explicit than they would have been if this was the only task given to the users.
All of the probe material collected was used as inspirational material during a workshop with five designers. The
five designers were performing a project on designing entrances, and using the probe material as inspirational
would help the designers. The basis for the inspirational work was a workshop format, for which a set of
techniques was developed in order to use let the designers be inspired by the probe material. Apart from speed
sketching, which will be described in detail below, the techniques used were, a wall projected photo
documentary from the disposable cameras with user added emotional words, activity identification in the probe
material, and finding usage problems in the probe material. The data from the “emotion cards” were summarized
in a diagram that was presented at the workshop. An example of the photo projection and the diagram of the data
of the “emotion cards” are shown in Figure 2 and Figure 3 respectively.
Figure 2. An example of the slideshow that was projected in the background of the design workshop.
Figure 3. The diagram of the data from the “emotion cards” that the designers were given during the workshop. The 22 first terms were
preprinted on the cards while the rest of the words (separated by some space) were put written by the users in the empty room on the card.
The overall goal of the probe study was to reach empathetic understanding of the situation of the users
of the entrance. However, speed sketching is a method that lies within the last stage of the probing
process, "interpretation and ideation", and used parts of the raw data from the probes directly as
sources of inspiration, as in the cultural probes process explained above.
The brainstorm method (Osborn, 1963) is a widely used method to use during the diversion phase of
the design process. It has been found that additional restrictions on what should be produced at the
brainstorm session could actually increase creativity (Brandt and Messeter, 2004). One example of this
is the random words method (which is a common method in design disciplines, see e.g. Löwgren and
Stolterman (2004) for an introduction to interaction design) which can help the participants of the
session to get out of a situation of fixation (Finke, Ward, and Smith, 1992). Fixation is when the
participants are stuck in one kind of ideas, and creative ideas are no longer exuberant. The participants
can then use a number of random words as a restriction, where new ideas have to combine these words
in one way or another. This restriction makes the participants think of solutions they might otherwise
never have thought of. Another example is the 6-3-5 method (Wright, 1998) where six participants
start by noting down three proposals to solve the presented problem. After five minutes of work
everybody passes their proposals to the next person and everybody makes additions to the last
persons’ proposals. After five changes the groups has co-produced several solutions to the problem.
The restrictions in this example are made up of the fact that each participant has to expand the
proposals that somebody else made.
The reason for choosing sketching as a medium for the ideation work is because of its importance as a
tool for designers. According to Buxton “sketching is not only the archetypal activity of design, it has
been thus for centuries” (Buxton, 2007, p. 111) and “it is central to design thinking and learning”
(Buxton, 2007, p. 118). Buxton lists several attributes of sketches that make them ideal for this kind of
work, e.g. sketches are quick, disposable, plentiful and ambiguous. Also, they suggest and explore
rather than confirm. All of these attributes are wanted at the early stage of the design process often
referred to as the divergent stage, which is where brainstorm sessions are very common. Lastly Buxton
describes “the 'conversation' between the sketch [...] and the mind” (Buxton, 2007, p. 114). This
means that designers are actually reasoning with themselves by sketching. When a designer sketches
this is done based on current knowledge, but once the sketch is on paper the designer will get new
knowledge by reading and interpreting what has just been created.
It seems as if the structure of a typical brainstorming method and the qualities of sketching as an
expressive activity fits well together. The sketches are quick and plentiful, which goes well with the
generative pace of a brainstorming session and its contribution to a divergent process. Sketches also
act as suggestions, which is similar to the role of the written word in other brainstorming sessions.
When shared, the sketches, being ambiguous and suggestive, invite asking questions on what they
depict, what they tell us, and what they mean. Thus, sketches can be a better media for brainstorming,
as they invite discussion instead of critique.
METHOD
To build on the designers’ skill to express themselves through sketching we conceived a technique we
call speed-sketching. It is a brainstorm-like activity with some restrictions; it uses only parts of the
probe material, and the material is available only in a specific media, and it uses a time limit. These
restrictions were motivated by the fact that restrictions can actually increase the creativity of the
participants of the brainstorm session. Thus, we collected the stories, which in one way or the other
concluded the user’s experience with the entrance as well as with the probe study. We then used these
to connect between the everyday of the processes of the users and the creative design process. The
collected stories were thus used to engage the designers in the user-inspired brainstorming exercise we
call speed sketching. The method was tested in the above mentioned design workshop.
The procedure of the exercise is very simple: the process leader reads aloud one story and then gives
the designers a short amount of time (specified in advance) to sketch ideas that come to their mind
while hearing the story. When the time runs out the process leader reads aloud a new story. In this way
the designers only have time to sketch the most important features of their ideas. There is no time to
go into details which might interfere with the creative/impulsive state of mind that is desirable during
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a brainstorming session. In this study each sketching was marked with story number and the designer’s
name in order to simplify the analysis.
The exercise is self-documenting in the sense that the output of the exercise (the sketches) allows for
analysis. The speed sketching session was followed by a semi-structured questionnaire. The sketches
and the answers from the questionnaire were later discussed with the participants. The sketches were
also analyzed by identifying unique traits. A sketch was considered unique if it contained some
element that (1) was not described in the story; and (2) was not present in any of the other participants’
sketches for that particular story. In order to study the potential difference in how different types of
stories inspire the designers the stories were classified on three dimensions:

Mode: dream story (Dream) or horror story (Horror)

Length: short (Short), average (Avg.) or long (Long)

Type: descriptive (Desc.) or narrative (Narr.)
The mode was specified by the participants of the probe study when writing the story. The length was
based on a rough subjective judgment of the number of words in each story. Stories that only
contained factual information on how the dream/horror entrance would be were classified as
descriptive, while those that also contained information about a use situation were classified as
narrative.
RESULTS
The classification of the stories and the number of unique sketches
visualized in Table 1.
Story
nbr.
Mode
Type Length
Des.1 Des.2 Des.3 Des.4
1
Horror
Desc. Avg.
U
U
2
Horror
Narr. Avg.
U
3
Dream
Narr. Avg.
U
U
4
Dream
Desc. Short
U
U
5
Horror
Narr. Long
U
U
6
Dream
Narr. Short
U
7
Dream
Narr. Short
U
U
8
Horror
Narr. Avg.
U
9
Horror
Narr. Avg.
U
10
Dream
Desc. Long
U
11
Dream
Desc. Short
U
U
U
12
Horror
Desc. Avg.
U
U
13
Dream
Desc. Long
14
Dream
Narr. Long
U
Σ
0
4
4
13
for each designer and story are
Des.5 Σ
2
U
2
U
3
U
3
2
U
2
U
3
1
U
2
1
3
2
0
U
2
7
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Table 1. The classification of stories and unique sketches (marked with a ‘U’), as explained
in the method section. The designers are named Des.1, Des.2, etc. The ‘Σ’ indicates the
number of unique sketches for each story and designer.
The data in Table 1 shows that designer 4 has produced significantly more unique sketches than the
others, and designer 5 follows with a few more than the other three designers. This is discussed below
together with the qualitative data from the questionnaires and the discussions with the designers. Table
2 sums the data from Table 1 for each of the classifications.
Total nbr. of Total nbr. of Nbr.
of
unique
Classification
unique sketches
stories
sketches per story
Dream
17
8
2,1
Horror
11
6
1,8
Short
11
4
2,8
Average
12
6
2
Long
5
4
1,3
Narrative
17
8
2,1
Descriptive
11
6
1,8
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Table 2. The number of unique sketches for each of the classifications.
Given the small sample of sketches and stories statistical analysis is kept simple. Noteworthy from
Table 2 is that the differences are not very big, with the exceptions of the length of the stories. It seems
as though longer stories tend to inspire a smaller amount of unique sketches than shorter stories.
Figure 4 shows four sketches to the following story. This is the authors' translation of story number 6,
a short, narrative dream story:
"Once upon a time there was a university building. The entrance was like a ball with doors made of
rubber. The rest of the ball was made of glass with different colors in it and when someone was
standing in the entrance the sky was visible, which gave a sense of freedom even though one was
encapsulated. That would be a fun entrance, not just to pass, but to hang out."
Figure 4. The sketches from story number 6. The comments of Designer 4 read “Freedom to
choose” and “Open by touching any of the balls – different balls starts different behaviors
from door.”
Figure 5 shows four sketches to the following story. This is the authors' translation of story number 5,
a long, narrative horror story:
"Once upon a time it was a hot and sunny day in Norrköping. I was going to the library in order to
return the books I had borrowed. The sun was warming and I was happy to be outside. While I was
walking along I noticed all the beautiful entrances that were in the city. Once I arrived at the library I
was chocked, firstly, the library was closed, secondly it was the ugliest entrance I had seen: grey,
square and it actually had a bad smell. There was no roof for me to have some shadow while waiting
for them to open. After having been standing there for a while it started raining! Without roof or any
other beautiful protection I had to stand there in front of the atrociously monstrous, grey, ugly entrance
with a bad smell. The books were of course ruined...and therefore also my sunny mood!"
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Figure 5. The sketches from story number 5. The door of Designer 1 reads “Closed! You
can’t come in”. The comments of Designer 3 read “Directly on the street”, “Closed” and
“regular, heavy thick pattern”. The comments of Designer 4 read “Door from the front”, “to
create roof”, “if lots of people” and “if no roof is needed”.
The sketches of the last example story can be seen in Figure 6. This is the authors’ translation of story
number 4, a short, descriptive dream story:
"Big, bright and spacious. Preferably harmonious colors like pastels for example. Pink, purple, light
blue :) Important with big windows so that it doesn't get dark, preferably curtains in warm colors at
winter."
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Figure 6. The sketches from story number 4. The comments of Designer 4 read “wind”,
“blowing curtains (makes it airy)”, “fabric” and “windows with ‘specialties’ to make fabric with
patterns from sun.”
These stories and sketches give a general idea of the material used as inspiration and the material
produced by the speed sketching session. It is worth to note that there is a difference in elaboration of
the stories. However, the data in Table 1 and Table 2 imply that the different classifications of the
stories are not of major importance in judging how effectively they can be used as inspiration for
designers. Also noteworthy is the similarity between the first three sketches to each story. This fact is
further discussed below, while considering how freely the designers sketched.
The questionnaire and discussion showed, in conflict with the quantitative data in Table 2, that the
horror stories were judged as giving input more easily used in a creative manner. This effect can be
interpreted as being similar to the reasons behind using so called provotypes (Gaver and Martin,
2000). Negative artifacts tend to provoke a reaction in the human mind. On the other hand, other
factors come into play in this case.
Firstly there is the general picture of normality. For a user of an entrance, thinking up a dream
entrance story is a hard task, if we require the story to be far offset from the picture of normality. This
can also be seen in the example of the stories above, where one hardly can argue that there is a far
offset from the picture of normality. For most people, coming up with new good ideas on order, and
writing down a fair story about these, is not what they picture themselves being good at doing.
Whereas expressing e.g. problems is easily done, the easiest way is just to work with negations. Thus
the stories told rely heavily on what the users of the entrance already knew. That is, because they had
been working with the probe material, documenting not only their use and attitudes, but also changing
their knowledge about the entrance, the stories told were richer than one might expect from a story
told by someone not having worked with these issues. Secondly, the designers’ view of normality, and
the professional vision of theirs to solve problems in the world, even more accentuates the horror
stories as the ones to be dealt with. Thirdly, provotypes are most often used within the critical design
school, where it is used by designers with users. In this study the designers were using the stories in a
design situation, which highlights the designers’ role as problem finders and solvers.
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Some of the designers sketched very freely during the story reading, while others tried to illustrate the
story. The designers who were illustrating the story (designers 1, 2 and 3) felt limited in their
creativity and produced rather similar sketches, which can be seen especially well in the sketches of
story number 6 (Figure 4). The designers who were sketching freely (designers 4 and 5) did not
produce as many similar sketches, which can be seen from the fact that these two have produced more
unique sketches than the other three designers.
As sketching often is being referred to as a central tool for a designer in the creative process (Buxton,
2007), it is interesting that some of the designers were limited in the speed sketching exercise. The
designers themselves highlighted a few reasons for this, such as that they would have liked longer time
to be able to work out details, or that they would have needed a “warm up” session to get into pace.
Our interpretation is that even though the method sounds simple, participants need training to be able
to feel that they perform well, regardless of whether they are illustrating or sketching freely. Speedsketching is similar to brainstorming as an idea, but using stories as input and sketches as output is
different, and thus it may sound easy, but it will require some initial familiarization. Nevertheless, the
designers’ sketches were strongly related to the stories, so the aim of using stories to create a
connection between the experiences of the users and the design process seem to have worked out.
CONCLUSIONS
Based on the study performed here speed sketching seems to be an effective and creative way to
merge data from user studies with the design process. Using sketching as a quick and expressive
means of interpreting a story created by a user of a design object provides designers with a systematic
tool to creatively use material from a design probe study. The results also suggest that the length and
mode of the stories might have impact on the level of inspiration the stories can provide.
The findings point towards a set of interesting avenues for further inquiry. First of all, finding ways of
creating dream stories that engage the designers is a challenge. Some authors view the creation of such
ideal scenarios as a design task in itself (Albinsson, Lind, Forsgren, & Ozan, 2006), and more
thorough understanding in what kind of stories work well as inspiration would be a good way to
optimize speed sketching. Secondly, studying the different design methods, such as design probes,
provotypes and speed sketching from a co-design perspective might shed some light over the
differences and similarities between views of normality and designer instrumentality. Thirdly,
analyzing the transformation from words into sketches would give the possibility to see how user
experiences are transferred and transformed through speed sketching. Fourthly, studying different
kinds of input to the speed sketching method would provide a wider array of possibilities for creative
output.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This research was partly made possible through a grant from VINNOVA, the Swedish innovation
agency, in the project Service Design: Innovation and Involvement. We would like to thank the
participants of the design probe study and the design workshop, without whom this work would never
have been completed. We also thank Errol Tanriverdi, the Sommardesignkontor in Linköping 2007,
SVID, designstudioÖst, Bengt Öhman and Akademiska Hus.
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