ABSTRACT
The moment an idea is transferred from a designer’s mind into some external presence is a critical moment in the life of any design concept. This occurs when ideas become so complex that they have to be externalized for clarification, assessment, and development. Their emergence can take different forms, as ideas can be expressed by metaphor, a word, or lines of prose. They can also be encapsulated in a scribble, sketch, illustration, or be rooted in a diagram. This manifestation process usually involves a language of abstraction in which the pictures in the mind begin to be mapped and processed using descriptive symbols or annotation, which combine to chart the potential relationships between concept and reality. The resultant marks appear most useful in these critical moments for, often functioning as a constructive doodle, they are clearly more concerned with the essence of ideas than any premonition of appearance. Indeed, unlike objective drawing which decodes our impression of the perceived external visual world, conceptual drawing is an internal process that draws from our creative imagination which, in turn, is fed by our memory, past experience and, indeed, by our fantasies.
