Using Our Sketching Skills To Persuade and Convince

Sketching The Hopes and Dreams of My Future
When I was 12 years old, I persuaded my father to allow me to convert a section of our home’s unfinished attic into my bedroom. Up to that point in my life my only experience with actual construction was observing my father and his friends build a new family room for our house when I was 7. Oh… that, and fabricating a few Cub Scout Pinewood Derby racers.
So, in reality I convinced Dad and his friends to actually build me the new room and I would help the best I could.
Luckily, the “code police” cannot go back in time to penalize me as the project architect. Access to the attic was via the typical flimsy plywood folding ladder that so many American houses feature prominently in our residential ceiling designs. That was impractical as a daily entrance, so a 3 foot by 3 foot hole was cut into the floor, a permanent ladder was crafted and a hatch door was installed. I designed it to have a fireman’s pole too, but that was “value engineered” out of the project by my mom.
I loved that room.
Knowing that I wanted to practice architecture as a career, I had a white fold-up drafting board at a very early age. I spent hours at that board sketching all the hopes and dreams of my future; muscle cars, fast boats and contemporary houses.
Using Architect Sketches to Persuade and Convince
The ability to draw by hand is a gift. Only a few possess the skill to put pen to paper and create a recognizable illustration. Hand drawing is an art at which others marvel and it’s a tool that we should be using to promote our services as architects.
In addition to our best built work, our websites should feature our best hand renderings. The seductive texture of our illustrations identify us as artists in the minds of our clients.
When meeting for an initial project interview, original art drawn by hand sets us apart from the competition who may be showing off their latest purchase of 3D rendering software.
Have you ever experienced the joy that our clients express when we pull out a roll of trace and sketch our ideas, right there on the table in front of them? We are gods creating, developing ideas and solving problems one squiggly line after another.
Ever since sketching out those original plans for my private loft hide-away, I’ve been using my skills in hand drawing to persuade and convince. It worked for my dad so many years ago and it still works today with each new client we sign.
Question: Do you use hand sketching to market your firm?
What other ways might our businesses benefit by using our artistic skills? Please share your thoughts below in the comments. I look forward to learning from your lessons.

Photo Credit: Shutterstock /  Andrej Sevkovskij
 
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