Last week we highlighted one of our favorite tools as designers here at ZURB: rapid design sketches. Sketching interfaces, workflows, and other UI elements is best applied to the early stages of any project. They're a great, low-impact, and inexpensive way to get a project started.
We use them here at ZURB to break problems wide open—not necessarily with solutions, but more questions and ideas. From there, we use more sketches and wireframes to narrow it back down with a solid game plan moving forward. The best part is how easy sketching is—even for the non-designer types.
**Anyone can pick up a Sharpie and some paper to get started**, and to help, we're posting some of our client sketchsheets for you to download and use.
###About Our Sketchsheets
Previously, all our print documents were done in some sort of Illustrator-Photoshop-InDesign combo, producing inconsistencies along the way. When we decided to give them an overhaul, we took it under our wing to standardize a few other things, including our sketching paper.
After a few good attempts in Illustrator, we saw Konigi's awesome screencast on creating sketch style wireframes, and decided to move on to OmniGraffle. There, we constructed a series of flexible, printable documents that help us knock out sketches quickly and effectively, **while maintaining a great visual presentation**. While we're not 100% there yet, we've got a few versions floating around the office to give them the full trial run they need.
ZURB Sketchsheets are available in four variations, each with three colors: ZURBgreen, ZURBlue, and dark gray. PDFs include all three colors. Click the thumbnails for a closer look at each sketchsheet.
####Single Sketchsheet Perfect for creating larger and more focused sketches in bulk. Print off 10 copies and let the ideas fly. Also available as a centered copy for adding notes more easily all around your sketches.
Download Single Sketchsheet (PDF) »
Download Centered Single Sketchsheet (PDF) »
####4-Up Sketchsheet Three boxes not enough? Try this one on for size. Four boxes present for longer flows, or hashing out small simple UI elements without wasting paper or precious time. Just start sketching! Download the 4-Up Sketchsheet (PDF) »
####Mixed Sketchsheet An experimental hybrid of the 4-up and single sketchsheets, this mixed variation allows for a focused sketch and two sideline or focused sketches. Perfect for showing a favorite design solution's benefits in more detail. Download the Mixed Sketchsheet Mixed (PDF) »
Have any requests for additional sketchsheets or variations on the ones provided? Let us know and we'll see what we can do to help. Also, let us know if you'd be interested in the OmniGraffle source file, other file formats, or even what we do once we're done sketching. We'll be following up with more updates and refinements as we go along!



