Sketches versus Artificial Intelligence Systems in Design Creative Process

Abstract

Artificial Intelligence Systems are part of our daily life and play an important role in so many human activities. As most professions, design practice also relies on artificial intelligence tools. Creativity is an essential element for design as designer’s task is searching to solve problems by creating solutions through new ideas, new designs. Sketching has been traditionally used by designers over the centuries, so it is often seen as an outdated method for design, as tradition can be thought as a strong and unalterable link to the past. In this sense, some consider sketching obsolete, but nowadays its use has evolved and expanded, being widely used by various areas of knowledge and professional practice, surpassing the previous and restricted use only by areas linked to the project such as architecture, engineering and design. Sketches emerge from the need to fix those first ideas that occur and that are manifested through the first signs, coming from the brain. A sketch can be like the ‘thought of the hand’, the hand as an extension of each thought fixed at the moment by the hand gesture that registers it. This paper investigates the nowadays use of sketches by designers despite the Artificial Intelligence Systems growing importance. We intend to rise questions and search for answers and, also, open a debate about several related issues. What is the nowadays role of sketches in Design? Sketches can be a necessary step of a design: its first spark? The process of thinking through sketching helps designers getting their creativity flowing? Can freehand drawings/sketches in Design practice take advantages of the Artificial Intelligence Systems?