If you don't draw it you will not see it

The activity of drawing has characterized the human being since pre-historic times. The ‘language’ of drawing was utilized long before writing was there. It is an expression of human’s unique creativity and an example of human’s near-exclusive usage of tools. In this paper, the broad definition and relevance of drawing will be addressed first. Subsequently, the position of the professional and educational field of design drawing takes will be discussed, and its specific functions within the context of product design. The overall goal of this paper is to summarize the various uses of drawing as a ‘design language’, discuss the educational value and present a preliminary learning model, which describes the sequential and additional steps that need to be taken into account when teaching students how to draw. The variety of functions of the drawing medium are integrated in the so-called design drawing curriculum of the Industrial Design Engineering program at the Delft University of Technology, which will be elaborated on. Subsequently, as an exemplifying and representative approach for suggesting an object’s volume - one of the most important goals of design drawing – a specific method and technique will be described and shown.