Drawing Product Ideas: Fast and Easy UX Drawing for Anyone

210 Pages·2022·21.949 MB·English

by  Kent E. Eisenhuth

DRAWING
PRODUCT IDEAS
FAST AND EASY UX DRAWING FOR ANYONE
KE NT EISENHUTH
Copyright © 2023 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey.
Published simultaneously in Canada and the United Kingdom.
ISBN: 978- 1- 119- 83585- 1
ISBN: 978- 1- 119- 83608- 7 (ebk.)
ISBN: 978- 1- 119- 83586- 8 (ebk.)
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Library of Congress Control Number : 2022942897
Cover image: Courtesy of Kent Eisenhuth
Cover design: Wiley
Past
To my parents, Ned and Nanette, who always encouraged
me to develop my drawing skills as a child and well into my
adulthood.
Present
To my wife, Beverly, who gave me the courage to write this
book and believed in it from its beginning, when it was a
nascent idea.
Future
To my kids, Harper and Hudson, whose uninhibited
drawings, creativity, and imagination should be an
inspiration to us all.
ABOUT
THE AUTHOR
Kent Eisenhuth is a Fellow of the Royal Society of
Arts. Kent has developed visual languages that
improve collaboration, comprehension, and decision-
making across a wide array of Google products
including Fitbit, Google Cloud, and Alphabet’s Loon.
Kent leads Google’s Data Accessibility program. He
previously led Google Cloud’s Data Visualization
Program and coauthored the data visualization specs for Material Design.
Kent’s work and ideas have appeared in many publications, including The
Guardian, UXmatters, ACM journals, and Smashing Magazine. Kent has
presented talks and ideas at many conferences, such as IxDA’s Interaction,
SXSW, and the Israeli Visualization Conference, and he is a frequent guest
lecturer at several universities in the United States.
iv
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Writing this book was an extremely difficult yet rewarding experience.
I’m forever thankful for all the people who helped me develop
this book.
To Beverly Eisenhuth, my wife, who believed in me and offered her
unconditional support throughout the process. I couldn’t have done this
without you.
To Manuel Lima, who encouraged me to write a book on drawing.
Manuel’s experience and support was insanely helpful throughout the
process, and I’m fortunate to have such an amazing mentor.
To Gary Hitzemann, my lifelong mentor who acted as a sounding board
during the book’s pitch process.
To Darryl Rentz, for his contributions to the pitch and for helping me find
the right tone and voice for the book.
To all of my other mentors and colleagues. including Kevin Richardson,
Matthew Bartholomew, Rebecca Danna, Hilal Koyuncu, Harold Hambrose,
and David Bartel, all of whom helped me develop the book’s narrative and
suggested areas of focus.
To Clare Cotugno for her help in editing the initial manuscript. More
importantly, Clare helped me find my voice as a writer and encouraged me
to publish my work early on in my career. She helped me discover my own
writing skills. Clare, if it wasn’t for you, this book wouldn’t exist.
To all the people who helped me develop my drawing skills over the years,
including Fredrick Wetzel, Gary Hitzemann, James A Rose, Kevin McCloskey,
Marilyn Lehman, Timothy Barr, and Bill Whalen.
To the other authors, artists, architects, and creatives who offered their
perspective and peer reviews, including Dr. Neil Cohn, Jason Borbay, Joseph
Biondo, Dan Boyarski, David Bullock, Steve Hassard, and Carolyn Knight.
Having the opportunity to spend time with you was the most enjoyable part
of the whole writing process.
To the amazing publishing team at Wiley, including Jim Minatel, Pete
Gaughan, Tracy Brown, and Melissa Burlock. It was an absolute joy working
with this team, and I’m forever grateful for their advice, feedback, and help in
giving life to this book.
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CONTENTS
FOREWORD ix
PREFACE xi
INTRODUCTION xv
CHAPTER 1 WHY DRAW? 1
Explore an Idea 2
Gain a Shared Understanding 5
Improve Collaboration 7
Anyone Can Draw 7
Right Time and Place 10
CHAPTER 2 REFRAMING OUR THINKING 15
Breaking It Down 17
Introducing the System 19
Common Drawings 23
CHAPTER 3 LINES AND POINTS 33
Telling Stories with Lines 34
Making Meaning with Points 42
Tools and Materials 45
CHAPTER 4 BUILDING FROM RECTANGLES 47
Creating Diagrams 48
Content Elements 55
Navigation Elements 58
Forms 65
CHAPTER 5 BUILDING FROM CIRCLES,
TRIANGLES, AND MORE 81
Circular Elements 81
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viii Contents
Triangular Elements 89
Advanced Icons and Symbols 92
Representing Interactions 98
CHAPTER 6 ILLUSTRATING LIGHT, MOTION,
AND OTHER CONCEPTS 103
Shading Techniques 103
Using Accent Marks 105
Looking at Lighting 105
Using Elevation 110
Using Texture 116
Capturing Motion 119
Conveying Luminance 120
Communicating Sound 121
CHAPTER 7 THE SYSTEM 127
Putting It Together 128
Creating Something New 134
CHAPTER 8 USING FLOWS TO TELL STORIES 139
Starting with the Syntax 139
Showing Interactions 142
Just Enough Information 144
Depicting Transitions 145
Labels and Annotations 147
Being Conscious of Composition 150
CHAPTER 9 TELLING ENGAGING STORIES 157
Real- World Constraints 160
Invoking Emotion 166
Adapting the Visual Language 170
Wayfinding and Landmarks 174
Choreography and Timing 178
Packaging Your Drawings 180
CHAPTER 10 MOVING FORWARD 183
WORKS CITED 185
INDEX 187