“Beyond this place there be
dragons.”

In Instanbul (1502)…

A Strange Request is Made

Golden Horn Bridge Sketch

Da Vinci Details the Design

Da Vinci’s Bridge to Nowhere

In 1991, It’s Built in
Norway

Why Da Vinci?

Hi, my name is Brian
Sullivan. @bigdesign @BrianKSullivan #davinci

My Friends and I run
the Big Design Conference.

Top 10 Thinkers of All-Time
1. Leonardo Da Vinci 2. William Shakespeare 3. The Pyramid Builders 4. Johanne Wolfgang van Goethe 5. Michelangelo 6. Sir Isaac Newton 7. Thomas Jefferson 8. Alexander the Great 9. Phidias (the Architect of Rome) 10. Albert Einstein source: Tony Buzan’s Book of Genius (1994)

7 Steps to Everyday Genius
1. Be curious. You should be constantly learning. 2. Test knowledge. Learn from your mistakes. 3. Improve your own experience. Make it multi-sensory. 4. Embrace ambiguity, paradox, and uncertainty. 5. Whole-brain thinking (science/art, logic/emotion). 6. Know the physical world (grace, dexterity, fitness). 7. Use system-thinking. See interconnections. Every designer should have these characteristics (and every problem-solver).

• Content

UX Sketch Books Published

UX Sketch Paper Created •
A3 and A4 Sketching Paper • Four Dots Per Inch A4 Paper • iPhone Wireframe Sheets • Android Application Sheets • 4 Cell Storyboard Paper • ZURB Sketch Sheets • 6-UP Sketch Sheets

Sketch Software Released • Sketch
Flow • Basalmiq

UX Sketching: Design Studio •
Participants produce several sketches. • Discuss and critique, then re-sketch. • Merge ideas into one design concept.

Generate, Refine...Repeat You use the
creative and evaluate sides of your brain in Design Studios.

Can Da Vinci Apply to
UX?

Da Vinci’s
True Legacy

The Last Supper (1495-98)

Mona Lisa (1503-05)

Only 30 Finished Paintings

Sketches: Greatest Legacy

He Was a Prolific Sketcher
13,000 pages

13,000 Pages Equates To… Harry
Potter Series 4,100 + Chronicles of Narnia 768 + Lord of the Rings Trilogy 1,011 + Hunger Games Trilogy 1,155 + Game of Thrones Series 4,197 + 9/11 Commission Report 1,181 + NIV Bible 585 Total Pages 12,997

6,000 Storyboards for Brave Source:
Mashable (2012)

Under a Painting is a
Sketch

Lots of Sketches Per Page
• Vitruvian Man = 2 • Shoulders = 7 • Flowers = 20 • Spike Ladder = 7 • Glider = 8 • Tank = 3 He is the most prolific sketcher ever.

5 Sketching Secrets

Da Vinci’s Sketching Method 1.
Sketch by hand on sheets of paper. 2. Do initial sketches alone. 3. Review with others, later. 4. Use annotations, arrows, and labels. 5. Save and re-visit earlier sketches.

1. Use Separate Pages Codex
Atlanticus (over 1,000 individual sketches)

No iPad

No Field Notes/Moleskine Bound pages
are too constraining.

Separate Pages

Leonardo Lessons: Sketch by Hand:
1. No constraints. 2. Quick and cheap. 3. No special skills. On Separate Pages: 1. Portable. 2. Re-organized. 3. Grouped.

2. Do Initial Sketches Alone
Da Vinci dissected 10 cadavers for his over 750 sketches on human anatomy.

Da Vinci Sketched Alone He
would initially sketch alone. Then, a doctor reviewed for technical accuracy.

“Cause of a Sweet Death”
Da Vinci asked an old man if he could him dissect him when he died. The old man accepted. Leonardo held the old man when he died. He started dissecting within a few minutes.

Two Artists, Same Interest Da
Vinci and Michaelangelo dissected human cadavers—socially repugnant.

Sketch Alone

Leonardo Lessons: Sketch Alone: 1.
No distractions. 2. Generate faster. 3. Incubate time. 4. Reflect, inspire. 5. Breathing room. 6. Avoid group think.

3. Review with Others Marcontonio
della Torre reviewed the human anatomy sketches for accuracy.

Reviewed by Generals Da Vinci
reviewed sketches of weapons with generals and soldiers.

Review Together

Leonardo Lessons: Review Together: 1.
Need expertise. 2. Collaboration. 3. Validation. 4. Accuracy. 5. Consensus.

4. Annotate, Arrows, Labels Da
Vinci’s sketches were wireframes: pictures with words, arrows, and labels.

Dissecting a Da Vinci Sketch
1. Picture in center. 2. Label on top. 3. Annotate on side. 4. Arrows point to key content.

Wireframe are the Same 1.
Picture in center. 2. Label on top. 3. Annotate on side. 4. Arrows point to key content. Yes, a picture is worth a 1,000 words. Words with pictures equals clarity.

Leonardo Lessons: Sketches Need: 1.
Picture 2. Description 3. Arrows 4. Annotations 5. Labels

5. Save and Re-visit Later
Some scholars think Da Vinci used an early form of the Cornell Method.

Da Vinci’s Shortcuts Main Questions
content and area Keywords Summary Information

Reorganized Sketches Codex Atlanticus (over
1,000 individual sketches)

Grouped Weapon Sketches Da Vinci
drew these sketches at different times, but they are grouped together.

Grouped Anatomy Sketches Marcontonio della
Torre wanted to publish this work, but he died of the Black Death.

Technology Helps Us Group Evernote
Fireworks Flickr Facebook

Revisit Later

Leonardo Lessons: Store & Re-visit:
1. Don’t throw out. 2. Store for later. 3. Cluster together. 4. Make findable. 5. Revisit later.

Generating Ideas

1. Strive for Quantity 2.
Defer Judgment 3. Seek New Combinations 4. Use Your Imagination

1. Strive for Quantity Vitruvian
Man is an iconic sketch of human potential. The Greek scholar, Vitruvius, said a man’s body could fit inside a circle and a square.

750 Anatomy Sketches

Three Masterpieces Innovation scholars predict
that it takes 3,000 raw ideas for 1 successful idea. • 13,000 sketches = 3 Masterpieces • 750 anatomy sketches = Vitruvian Man

Leonardo Lessons: 1. Quantity Leads
to Quality. 2. 13,000 sketches led to 3 classic masterpieces.

2. Defer Judgment “It is
easier to resist in the beginning than at the end.” - Da Vinci Defer positive and negative judgment.

Sketch of The Last Supper

Jesus and Judas Problems

Two Years Later…

EXCELLENT SUPER SPECTACULAR KILLER NEAT
SWEET COOL AWESOME BEST WOW #1 YES

REJECT DENIED PAINFUL NIX IT!
NOPE WEAK BLOWS IT SUCKS!!! BAD UGLY #2 NO

Leonardo Lessons: 1. Positive judgment
shuts you down. 2. Negative judgment shuts you down. 3. Your own judgment blocks you, too. 4. Your sketch is a draft to re-visit.

3. New Combinations Da Vinci
had a pet dragon.

Leonardo’s Pet Dragon Da Vinci
created a pet dragon by gluing other animal parts to a lizard. • He added fish scales. • • He gave it a bat ears. • He painted the lizard. • He added wings that flapped when it walked.

• Da Vinci always looked
to put things to another use.

The First Automobile Using the
existing tools of his day, he made the/ the first automobile. • Steering columns. • • Rack and pinions. • Wheels. • Cranks. • Springs.

Leonardo Lessons: 1. New combinations
from existing parts. 2. Put old things to a new uses. 3. Take an element and make it bigger or smaller.

4. Use Your Imagination “Why
does the eye see a thing more clearly in dreams than the imagination when awake?” - Da Vinci

Common Response Zone

Da Vinci’s Flying Machines

Successful Glider Test In 2006,
scientists flew a Da Vinci Glider, using available material from his time.

Leonardo Lessons: 1. Avoid the
common response zone. 2. More ideas force you to use your imagination. 3. Let ideas incubate. Re-visit with a new perspective.

1. Strive for Quantity 2.
Defer Judgment 3. Seek New Combinations 4. Use Your Imagination

Refining Ideas

1. Use Positive Judgment 2.
Consider Novelty 3. Stay Focused 4. Redirect Yourself

1. Use Positive Judgment “The
greatest deception men suffer is from their own opinions.” - Da Vinci

65,000 thoughts per day. 65%
are negative, roughly 42,000.

He Struggled Personally

REJECT DENIED PAINFUL NIX IT!
NOPE WEAK BLOWS IT SUCKS!!! BAD UGLY #2 NO

Leonardo Lessons: 1. Use positive
judgment first. 2. Explore for value and benefit. 3. Avoid the natural tendency to think initially negative.

2. Consider Novelty “There are
three classes of people: those who see, those who see when they are shown, those who do not see.” - Da Vinci

The City of Venice called
one of Da Vinci’s inventions “impractical”.

Pope Leo X Bans Autopsies
Da Vinci’s dissections of cadavers was seen as disgusting. It was outlawed by the Pope.

Sultan Rejected His Bridge “Swoop
and poop! The executive seagull maneuver.” - Jared Spool

Leonardo Lesson: 1. Don’t dismiss
novel ideas immediately. 2. Novel ideas might lead to innovations. 3. Many of Leonardo’s ideas were rejected. 4. Your idea may be ahead of its time.

3. Stay Focused “As every
divided kingdom falls, so every mind divided between many studies confounds and saps itself.” - Da Vinci

Perfectionist & Procrastinator

Break Lunch Break You will
lose focus from time to time. Take a break. Go for a walk. Re-focus.

The Da Vinci Dilemma Too
many talents, not enough time. • Mathematician • Scientist • Anatomist • Military Strategist • Civil Engineer • Artist • Sketcher

A Death Bed Confession “I
have offended God and mankind because my work didn't reach the quality it should have.” - Da Vinci

Leonardo Lessons: 1. Stay focused
on what’s important. 2. Take breaks or walks to re-focus. 3. Focus on one thing at a time. 4. Don’t procrastinate. 5. Perfectionism kills productivity.

4. Redirect Yourself

Cesar Borgia, Short Bio •
Son of a Pope • Cardinal by age 17 • Killed his brother • Dictator in his land • Survived poisoning • Killed many followers • Died in war • Patron of Da Vinci for a short time

Machiavelli, Short Bio • Politician
for 14 years • Head of Florence militia • Wrote The Prince • “Ends justify the means.” • “Better to be feared than loved.” • “Too much freedom can lead to the soul's decay.”

Borgia: Machiavelli’s Prince

Da Vinci Caught in Middle

Suffered Severe Trauma Da Vinci
had "a profound psychological change . . . as a result of his terrifying experiences“ with Borgia. source: Paul Strathern (2010)

Da Vinci Built Maps

Improved Borgia’s Fortress It had
rounded walls to counter the direct impact of a cannonball. Interior walls led to fortified positions.

Designed a Movable Bridge

Da Vinci’s “Grotesque Error” Imagine
what Borgia would done with: • Glider • Crossbow • Tank • Cluster Bomb • Machine Gun • Helicopter • Hand-crank catapult

Da Vinci Redirects His Work
Da Vinci gives Borgia defensive items: • Map of Milan • Map of Imola • Hedometer • Movable Bridges • Improved Ladder • Fortress Redesign

Da Vinci Redirects His Work
“I will not publish, nor divulge such things because of the evil nature of men.” - Da Vinci

Stores Them in a Codex
Codex Atlanticus (most of his military sketches)

“I have wasted my hours.”
Final words of Da Vinci

Leonardo Lessons: 1. You cannot
avoid politics. 2. Maintain your own values, to the end. 3. Design can be done under duress. 4. Re-direct yourself to positive things.

Final Thoughts

5 Sketching Secrets 1. Sketch
by hand. Use sheets of paper. 2. Do initial sketches alone. 3. Review with others, later. 4. Use annotations, arrows, and labels. 5. Save and re-visit earlier sketches.

• Content

1. Strive for Quantity 2.
Defer Judgment 3. Seek New Combinations 4. Use Your Imagination

1. Use Positive Judgment 2.
Consider Novelty 3. Stay Focused 4. Redirect Yourself

1. Strive for Quantity 1.
Use Positive Judgment 2. Defer Judgment 2. Consider Novelty 3. Seek New Combinations 3. Stay Focused 4. Use Your Imagination 4. Redirect Yourself