Five Decades of Sketching: An Interview with Jim Lee
Jim Lee has almost 50 years of design experience in both the public and private realms, where he has led a wide spectrum of creative design ideas. In seeking out the most creative solutions and embracing an interactive, collaborative design process, Jim has emphasized the importance of sketching to communicate ideas and explore opportunities.
We sat down with Jim to learn more about his approach to sketching and how the medium is changing during a time of AI advancements.
Where do you use sketching in your design process?
Sketching is an integral part of a project’s overall exploratory journey, from the initial research and first conceptions through construction. For me, the process of sketching/ diagraming seeks to understand and address a project’s unique and eccentric conditions, opportunities, and constraints.
How do you approach your sketches? And what are the goals?
My goals for sketching are two-fold: One is to establish an internal dialogue to explore the project, and the other is to externally communicate ideas and interact with others.
Through sketching, I understand and express potential physical and spatial characteristics of a project. The goals often examine aspects of how a project might fit within its context, how its components form a meaningful whole, and how pieces contribute as vital exemplary parts of a project.
How did you create your sketching style?
Many mentors and talented designers inspired me very early in my career, notably Michael Laurie, William Johnson, and Jim Reeves. They demonstrated and nurtured ways of visualizing, questioning, and testing ideas through sketching and drawings.
Over time, I have come to value the medium as a fluid, intuitive, and nimble design and communication tool. And like any tool, the more you sketch and practice, the more comfortable, reliable, and expressive the sketching process becomes.
What are your favorite tools/utensils?
Prismacolor pencils and AD markers. These fluid, free-flowing mediums make it easier to explore volumes, forms, and convey impressions.
How does the increase in AI rendering tools impact the need for hand sketching?
AI is an amazing new tool; just as we have design dialogues with each other, we will need to incorporate AI capabilities into our design work and conversations.
While AI capabilities are amazing and continue to rapidly improve and evolve, AI does not replace the spontaneous intuitive internal process that sketching offers. Sketching remains an essential part of how I communicate and interact with others. Hand sketching is less definitive, more impressionistic, and self-generative which I value most.
What role has sketching played in your career?
Over time, I have come to value the medium as a nimble and intuitive design tool. The more I sketch and seamlessly integrate it into the design process, the more expressive the tool becomes. It instills an internal optimism, reminding me of my desire to design important, memorable places.
What advice would you give to designers about sketching?
As I have grown comfortable and reliant on sketching, I come to treasure the reflective space sketching provides in an intense design process often with no clear direction at the outset. Select a sketching style that reveals your thoughts and inspirations and refine it as you apply it to your work and pursuits over time.
Sketching can be deceptive, so it is important to focus on the truths embedded and revealed through drawings.
Case Study: Nanhu New Country Village
Nanhu New Country Village is a response to China’s rapid urbanization, which has radically diminished its agricultural landscapes and labor force, as the nation has focused on urban growth, technology, and industrial advancements. Historically serving as the breadbasket for the neighboring cities of Shanghai and Hangzhou, the agricultural city of Jiaxing wished to retain and revitalize its agricultural heritage and future.
SOM approached SWA to collaborate on this 1500-hectare project in Jiaxing’s farm belt to dramatically enhance its agricultural productivity, value, and rural life. Through the introduction of new high-value organic crops, ecological farm practices, environmental and canal restoration, and a new compact village design, rural life and farming would be elevated to new levels of productivity, viability, and resilience. These new farm village benefits/ practices would be shared and potentially replicated and adapted throughout the region’s farm belt.
Treated as a pilot program by the government, SWA and a team of collaborators set out to revive the agriculture, ensuring a fertile setting to entice full-time residents or weekend getaways for those living in nearby cities. An essential piece was the treatment of wetlands, which clean the water and help the site meet international organic certification standards. This in turn increases the financial and ecological value of the land.
During the design process, Jim and the team heavily relied on sketches to help visualize different nodes across the landscape: twelve in total. From community parks to hedgerow corridors to internal block landscapes, Jim worked through multiple rounds of sketches for each scenario, which he notes is similar to editing multiple drafts of text, to facilitate the thinking process between iterations. The team used Jim’s sketches in their presentation to the clients, presenting them as opportunities for community places to showcase the richness of the rural neighborhood, with a high quality of life embedded into it.