Back in late August I announced that the UX Mastery community was about to embark on a 100 day sketching challenge.
We kicked things off on the very last day of August, and we followed Krisztina Szerovay’s awesome 100 days of Visual Library Building structure. The premise is that each day you sketch 3 objects, ultimately ending up with a huge visual library of 300 UX related icons or sketches.
We started off with a bang and I was incredibly impressed with the calibre of the drawing. We have some talented people in our community!
We learned some lessons along the way – primarily that 100 days is an unrealistic goal. We lost most participants after the first month. I travelled for work and couldn’t find time to participate and catching up seemed insurmountable. Next time I’ll set a more realistic goal.
In the end the pros outweigh the cons. Our motivations for taking part in the challenge differed and we all left with something of value, whether that is a resource for future work or a new skill.
Here is a roundup of the results.
I ended up using this challenge to get the creative juices flowing on days when I just wasn’t feeling it. Having an exercise that forces you to be creative, even for just a few minutes, helps a lot. Doug Collins
I really enjoyed it! It was a fun way to just put something on a page without overthinking it. I felt the way it was run worked really well. People were kind, inclusive and supportive of the varied levels of ability. Ashlea McKay
For me it was a wonderful initiative. I always was waiting for the new concepts to draw. I’m very bad in sketching hehe but it doesn’t matter… @carlux
I always doodle, even now that I’m replying to this post. The initiative is great, please keep doodling, I see awesome stuff [here]! Dopamino
I can’t draw to save myself but I enjoyed the challenge and the camaraderie. Hawk
I am not good at sketching and had to force myself to drawing because I felt I needed to develop this skill. An Lev
Sketching is such a useful skill that I’m keen to keep the momentum going with new events and activities in future, but in the meantime here are some great resources to tide you over:
- Sketching resources: https://uxmastery.com/7-resources-to-get-you-sketching-like-da-vinci/
- The UX Sketchnotes ebook: https://uxmastery.com/store/ux-sketchnotes/
- Sketchnoting tips: https://uxmastery.com/5-tips-to-take-your-sketchnoting-to-the-next-level/
- Why sketch?? https://uxmastery.com/why-sketchnoting-makes-you-a-better-ux-designer/
