THINK FIRST footwear design | 17 february 2010 Do you think you have to be an expert in sketching to become a designer? The most common question I'm being asked by young designers is this: "which program did you use for your renderings?" And I would say... my brain. The fact is you have to be able to communicate your ideas with others... so you have to draw. But this skill is not the most important one. You can sketch few lines on a napkin and made fantastic product from it. What's important is not the drawing but the IDEA behind it. I think the most common mistake among young designers is to stuck on sketching. You sit at your desk, you draw the silhouette of the shoe and then you fill it with lines. You keep sketching for hours looking for the right lines. You trying to make product that is beautiful and which fits to your taste. I was working like this too and it took me loooong time to realize that it is just wrong. Remember it is your head that should lead your hand not the opposite. So think first... find the story and then imagine how it might look. When you ready, you sketch... and sketching is fun I know, but make sure you do it to explain the idea, not to come up with it. RENDERING is not a design "tool" it's a way of communication. Below you see sketches I made 6 years ago for Basketball concept. The Idea was first... provide ankle support and use real heel suspension shox.