Abstract
Design students often hesitate to use drawing as a thinking tool, wary of expectations for figurative outcomes and the evaluative traditions that shape the status quo in product design. This study draws on object-oriented ontology (OOO) and vibrant materialism to explore how a drawing tool—specifically the pencil— might act as an agent in rethinking the pedagogy of semiogenic design visualcy. The study proposes micro-camera activities that capture the pencil’s perspective to produce a radically altered visual and auditory encounter with drawing. Tracing the pencil’s entanglements reveals drawing not simply as representation but relation. The line becomes both a mark and an event. In this reframing, authorship and perception blur in the pencil’s quiet acts of resistance. Through small experimental interventions, the pencil invites a reimagining of relationships between tools, space and authorship. This shifts drawing from depiction toward encounter, opening possibility for new pedagogical approaches to visual thinking in design.
Keywords
Visualcy, Drawing, Vibrant Matter, Pencil Camera
DOI
https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2026.967
Citation
O'Gorman, E. (2026) Drawn To Think: A Step Toward Decolonising Design Visualcy, in Simeone, L., Gray, C. M., Verhoeven, A., de Götzen, A., Bakırlıoğlu, Y., Zohar, H., Stead, M., and Buwert, P. (eds.), DRS2026: Edinburgh, 8–12 June, Edinburgh, United Kingdom. https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2026.967
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Included in
Drawn To Think: A Step Toward Decolonising Design Visualcy
Design students often hesitate to use drawing as a thinking tool, wary of expectations for figurative outcomes and the evaluative traditions that shape the status quo in product design. This study draws on object-oriented ontology (OOO) and vibrant materialism to explore how a drawing tool—specifically the pencil— might act as an agent in rethinking the pedagogy of semiogenic design visualcy. The study proposes micro-camera activities that capture the pencil’s perspective to produce a radically altered visual and auditory encounter with drawing. Tracing the pencil’s entanglements reveals drawing not simply as representation but relation. The line becomes both a mark and an event. In this reframing, authorship and perception blur in the pencil’s quiet acts of resistance. Through small experimental interventions, the pencil invites a reimagining of relationships between tools, space and authorship. This shifts drawing from depiction toward encounter, opening possibility for new pedagogical approaches to visual thinking in design.