How can engineering design sketches improve your communication skills?

I had a prof telling me, the language of an engineer is the drawing. I found that statement very interesting especially that I was studying in a foreign language. when I was stuck with words, I used to explain my thoughts by drawing especially curves and graphs. that is extremely visual and it shows at the same time how can we shape the knowledge

As a mechanical engineer, I've found that sketching designs is really useful for communicating difficult ideas and sparking creative thinking. Using a pencil on paper allows you to experiment with forms and arrangements, making abstract thoughts physical. The cliche "a picture is worth a thousand words" is valid - a few fast sketches can communicate volumes more effectively than written descriptions alone. Sharing these visible thoughts encourages collaboration and sparks discussions to improve the design. Sketching establishes a common visual language as ideas progress from back-of-the-napkin scribbles to precise technical drawings, boosting clarity and communication between engineer and client.

Being an Engineering background my focused opinion is that engineering design sketches can dramatically improve your communication skills in several ways, both verbal and non-verbal: 1. Clarify Your Thinking by Visualizing Your Ideas: Sketching forces you to translate abstract concepts into concrete visual representations. This process often unveils inconsistencies or gaps in your thinking, leading to clearer and more refined ideas. and secondly Exploring alternatives: Quickly sketching different potential designs allows you to compare and contrast options, identify strengths and weaknesses, and ultimately make more informed decisions. 2. Enhance Communication with Others by using Universal language and by focusing the conversation.

It’s basically art of teaching and minimizing the time wastage of redoing one work more times. This is the way to lead your team to work perfectly with clear ideas.

Sketching is definitely a useful tool. It helps convey concepts and prospective designs in the presentation and collaboration meetings and in the field to the workforce. It also helps the designer to think through his concepts. Many people are visual learners and thinkers. Sketching benefits those who are!

Research suggests that a significant portion of the population tends to be visual learners, with estimates ranging from around 65% to 75%. comparing with hearing 30-35.. I think it is important findings and how sketch impact our understanding too certain features, processes and ideas

Sketching to think is an extension of a concept from the psychologist Jordan Peterson, he explains that when forming ideas and opinions you need to verbalise for thoughts to be able to further develop the idea and fully understand your thoughts. It seems impossible that you wouldn't automatically understand your own thoughts but I now recognise it myself daily, whenever you have to explain something to someone you are using that time to help develop your own understand of the subject. I believe sketching helps us to develop our ideas on our mind in the same way verbal discussion does.

It is an uncommon gift for someone to be able to clearly present concepts, theories and designs to highly technical people at a conference or meeting and just as well to the worker in the field. Sketching has a distinct benefit to both. As I stated before, many are visual learners or thinkers, "A picture is worth a thousand words".

A picture is worth a thousand words. Sketch is important as words can be understood differently but a sketch or a picture is seen similarly by all. It removes the lapses of misinterpretation and allows others to contribute to a developing idea more efficiently and fastly. Sketches are also good for concept building and retention of any developmental idea.

A picture speaks a thousand words...... Interpretation of words adds another dimension to the confusion, hence i strongly believe that a sketch can bring in a lot of clarity. Having worked on projects with multiple people from multiple cuptures, languages and working styles, I have seen how sketches have helped bring in clarity and helped aligning everyone towards the same end goal a lot faster than words can.

Engineering design sketches have transformed my day-to-day collaboration by enabling the constant and clear communication of vision and goals. The interactive nature of sketching simplifies the solicitation of feedback, enhances the building of trust, and ensures stakeholder alignment throughout any given project. It's not just about drawings; it's a shared language that fosters collective understanding and ownership. Overall, design sketches have greatly enhanced my communication skills by making collaboration more engaging and inclusive.

one of the advantages of visual representation is the ability to concretize the concepts and put them black on white, which allows collaboration and get add ons easier than when using other senses or mean of info transmission.

Esboza ideas y ponles cierto orden, es decir síntetiza las ideas según vayan surgiendo y clasificalas por necesidad, contexto e importancia. Establece el flujo de decisión necesario, desde los diferentes focos que tengas abiertos, cuales de tus bocetos van relacionados con esas necesidades. La creatividad que se dispara cuando utilizamos nuestras extremidades para escribir o dibujar es muy importante, para puestos de management más todavía ya que parte de nuestras responsabilidades pasan por aportar esa creatividad necesaria a la hora de plantear estrategias.

Sketching helps one think through their concept or design. It helps refine those items; look for interferences, better or easier assembly, or just layout how it might look in reality. Sketching allows an engineer or technician remember the concept that came to mind yesterday, but is now fuzzy in memory. It is often that "Ah ha" moment where the concept becomes clearly understood or defined.

Engineering design sketches are powerful tools for presenting and persuading. They vividly showcase your vision, making presentations memorable by showcasing your creative vision. Sketching helps prepare and rehearse key points, fostering support and organization in your designs. Overall, design sketches enhance the ability to articulate ideas, which create compelling and visually engaging presentations.

As an engineering manager, sketching is like possessing a hidden weapon for communicating. It simplifies team talks by transforming difficult ideas into understandable images. A fast sketch can speak volumes and promote effective collaboration when you're problem-solving, making choices, or just brainstorming. Developing a common language among team members is more involved than simply sketching; it's what makes communication productive and enjoyable!

As a software engineer I always thought that the most difficult part of the process was transcribing the client's imagination into the system. The least difficult way is to use design sketches so that clients could identify and correct gaps in the transcription.

Sketches are pretty useless in a modern world of multidisciplinary infrastructure delivery when you have access to 3D, BIM, AR and VR. Move with the times, don’t move backwards.