This video will walk you through step by step how to come up with design concepts for a new product or idea. In the video, I'll use headphones as an example.

I'll post the video here and if you'll like, you can read the steps below the video with attached screenshots.

Step by Step Walkthrough

Step 1

Whenever I start a new project, it can be challenging to get the first couple of sketches down. This is why I like to warm up with sketching simple geometries first such as circles, ellipses, cubes and so on.

The cool thing is that when you do this, you're brain will start to wake up and think of ways you can use the simple shapes you just sketched to come up with design ideas.

For example, you can start with an ellipse. Within this ellipse, you have your first form idea. As you can see in the image below, I've simply started with a cylinder and added a circle in top of it. This is the base for my design.

Step 2

Now that we have our basic geometries in place (the cylinder and the circle) we can start to mold them to what we want. Always keep in mind where your light source is, meaning - where is the light coming from?

In my case here, the light is coming from the top of the sketchbook shining down. When you know this, you know where to add line weight. You know which lines you want to make thicker - the lines (edges) that are facing away from the light source.

I'll make a video soon on line weight and post it here to explain it better.

Step 3

From here, we simply use the same technique we've been using throughout the video. Start with a big geometric shape such as a cylinder or ellipse and "carve" out your design from there. The one I'm sketching here started out as an ellipse which I simply cut in half with a second ellipse.

Hope that makes sense! If not, let me know in the comments below, I'll try and explain it better :)

Step 4

In this final step, we want to fill up the paper with shapes and concepts. By now you're brain should be all awake and ready to tackle another sheet if you wanted to. I like to keep a second sheet of paper under my hand so I don't smear the pen lines.

The 3 key things to remember from this post is:

1 - Keep it simple, start with BIG shapes and add details later
2 - Remember where your light source is. I always like to keep it at the same spot to keep it simple.
3 - If you want clean, smooth line always sketch with your elbow and shoulder. Keep your wrist locked and move your entire arm when sketching.

Thanks for watching!

Questions? Let me know below!

//Marouane Bembli