Where Did the Napkin Sketch Go?
𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝗺𝗮𝗻𝘆 𝗯𝗿𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗮𝘀 𝘄𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗯𝗼𝗿𝗻 𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗮𝗰𝗸 𝗼𝗳 𝗮 𝗻𝗮𝗽𝗸𝗶𝗻?
How many products, companies, movements started with a Sharpie and a cocktail napkin at the wrong end of a long dinner?
I still do napkin sketches.
I started at Pentagram. Three years. Wax machine. Xacto knife. Coca-Cola Annual Report. Andy Goldsworthy in 3D. We thought with our hands before we touched InDesign. 😉
The napkin wasn't a deliverable. It wasn't a prototype. It wasn't a Figma file or a Miro board or a prompt.
It was thinking made visible before anyone decided it was worth thinking.
I can't remember the last time I saw a hand sketch from a product designer. Can you?
Hand sketching took decades to fade. We're not working in decades anymore.
The craft disappearing today isn't going quietly. It's being evicted.
𝗦𝗼 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗵𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗲𝗻𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗻𝗮𝗽𝗸𝗶𝗻 𝘀𝗸𝗲𝘁𝗰𝗵?
Will it come back like sourdough starter, kept alive by a few, then suddenly everywhere again?
Will it return like nesting, a cultural exhale when the pace gets to be too much?
Or will it become like original animation cels, precious because a human hand made it, valuable precisely because it can't be replicated?
I don't know. I'm thinking about how to leave the next generation with something worth inheriting.
𝗡𝗼𝘁 𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗸𝗲𝘁𝗰𝗵. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗶𝗺𝗽𝘂𝗹𝘀𝗲.
𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝗱𝗼 𝘄𝗲 𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗰𝗵 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗻𝗲𝘅𝘁 𝗴𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗿𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗶𝘁?
𝗧𝗼 𝗽𝗶𝗰𝗸 𝘂𝗽 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗦𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗽𝗶𝗲 𝗯𝗲𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝗼𝗽𝗲𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗹𝗮𝗽𝘁𝗼𝗽?
𝗧𝗼 𝗺𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝘀𝗼𝗺𝗲𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗶𝗿 𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗱𝘀 𝗯𝗲𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝗺𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝘀𝗼𝗺𝗲𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗮 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗺𝗽𝘁?
𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗺𝘆 𝗻𝗮𝗽𝗸𝗶𝗻 𝘀𝗸𝗲𝘁𝗰𝗵𝗲𝗿𝘀?
