Essentials of UI Design XXXXI: Using UX Sketching as a Tool to Enhance the Design Process
The best designers use UX design sketching as a design process cheat code. And that’s before they ever launch Figma or Sketch on pricey MacBook Pros to do pixel-perfect mockups. Why do they do this? Because it gives them a taste of different ideas in the same time that it takes to create a single digital mockup. The best part? It works even your drawing skills are not worth talking about.
What is UX Design Sketching?
UX Design Sketching just means the rapid visualization of user interface concepts using pen and paper. It’s how designers “think out loud.”
However, designers don’t use sketching to create pretty pictures. They use it to explore ideas quickly and efficiently. You’re right: it’s the first draft of your digital product and getting it right with stakeholders is as important as what follows when you launch the product.
A UX sketch is not perfect; never is! It’s mostly messy, but it’s clarifying and holds plenty of potential.
Why are UX Designs Important?
So, there are great digital design tools and now AI-powered solutions. We surely don’t need pen and paper anymore! Right and dead-wrong!
Here are the reasons why pen and paper design sketching are still useful in 2025:
Cognitive advantage
Sketching ensures you can engage various parts of your brain, including those unrelated to the task at hand. This leads to more creative solutions.
Collaboration
When you use pen and paper, you can easily share your ideas in team meetings. You can also easily iterate based on the feedback you get.
Focus
When you sketch, you can focus on the pillars of the digital product without worrying about distracting tiny details.
Freedom
You don’t erase designs done with a pen on paper (unless you’re using a pencil). This can be a good thing because it forces you to become more creative.
Speed
You can create several ideas in the time it takes to create one digital mockup.
Once you’ve got a pen (or pencil) and dotted (or grid) paper, ruler, eraser, and smartphone, you’re set for UX sketching. The only thing simpler is drawing product inspiration for more than 150,000 screens on UILand. Learn from the best user interface designs available but make it yours with your pad and pen.
