Sketching User Experiences: The Workbook

3.11 Sketching with Foam Core

sketching in a physical medium

Most people think of sketching as something done with paper and pen (or digital equivalents). Yet sketching can also be done by creating physical mock-ups of devices and situations. Architects do this when they create scale models of buildings and their surrounds. Industrial designers do this by crafting models of their devices out of clay. Some interaction designers also construct interactive scale models of devices, often using foam core sheets and other everyday materials (such as cardboard) as their medium. Unlike a paper sketch that represents a device, you can have others actually ‘operate’ your physical device.

Materials

• foam core sheets, around 5 mm thick (available at ...