A Mixed Reality Application for Sketching in Prototyping Workshops

Sketching is a method used in user-centred design to visualize first drafts of a product. In corporate environments, sketching is often employed in ideation workshops with participants of various disciplines including end users. The aim of sketching is to promote communication and create a better understanding between stakeholders. However, participants are sometimes reluctant to engage in the activity for fear of inferior drawing skills. In order to counteract this phenomenon, we designed a mixed reality application that supports users in sketching, particularly in workshop settings. Two independent user studies showed conflicting results depending on the assumed perspective. First hand users find that the application effectively supports them in creating high quality sketches with high enjoyment in the process, although they do not see creativity enhancements or higher time efficiency. In contrast, third parties that rate the produced artifacts could not distinguish between application supported and free hand sketches in terms of uniformity, comprehensibility and quality.