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Shivani Chaudhary

Barriers In Sketching

Can designers effectively use written language as an alternative to sketching for discovering their ideas?

Project Abstract


This research project seeks to explore how we might redesign software to reduce the cognitive load that software places on us in our everyday lives. I explore this through a project to redesign Microsoft Outlook, a mail application used daily by millions in work study and personal lives, often not by choice, but by institutional policy. For me and anecdotally for others, the use of Outlook can be one of great frustration.

This study focuses on two distinct research areas. Initially, it explored cognitive overload issues within Outlook interfaces, which were further investigated through an examination of Outlook's UI elements. Subsequently, a novel approach emerged: ‘Sketching through Words’. This prompted a shift in my research focus to explore this aspect from a slightly different perspective, advocating for the use of sketching through words as an alternative technique when ideating.  






Fig. 1 – Identifying Cognitive Overloads in Outlooks UI






Fig. 2 – Sketching through Words






Fig. 3 – How it should be VS How I explored this