The Drawing gesture in design project: Portuguese case study

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to contribute to the statement that drawing influences the design project practice through technical resolution but especially through heuristic representation. By critically reflecting about the state of art supported by the arguments of recognized authors it is suggested a theoretical approach to the topic based in 3 perspectives of interpreting drawings: (1) formal perspective defined by a conceptual context, (2) productive perspective defined by a constructive context and (3) the communicative perspective defined by a expressive context. The study case addresses the practice of 16 Portuguese designers whose work is institutionally recognized in Portugal and abroad. In the Portuguese case, historically, drawing having the role of project instrument may have contaminated design practice. We seek to justify the hypothesis that designer’s particular use of drawing influence the project’s conferring to it a singular identity. Drawing differentiates the designed object through the act of composing. It is possible to conclude that ‘adding’ the hand to the brain – the shape to the content / the matter to the idea – stands for the achievement of the project and simultaneously for a revelation of the object through the poetic expression of the action of drawing.