Product 5: SKIT, Sketching Kit

SKIT is a sketching kit aimed to provide easy transportation and use of pens/pencils/markers/sharpeners/erasers and loose papers. In my case, that'll be for product design sketching, but perhaps you have a different way you use and transport paper and marking tools, especially when you don't want your paper bound in a journal or sketch book.

I'm sharing this one in an early state to get a better sense of interest before fine tuning the design. If it's of any interest, I'd welcome your thoughts on how it might be relevant to you via this short survey. Depending on what you say, I think this could become a fun and relatively simple printable Open Source product via a Creative Commons license.

There are two components to the SKIT, Sketching Kit. Both are designed to be personalizable and manufactured via 3D printing.

The first component is a Pen/Pencil case. I tried several closures, materials and custom slots for individual items to test out on a week long trip to the Pacific North West. Last night we landed back home right at midnight on New Year's Eve 🎇!
After prototyping a number of concepts for the trip, I took a hard, clamshell case with flexible bumpers and a magnetic closure that could hold my current core sketching kit.

The Second component is a loose paper holder. In my case, I've been playing with 8.5"x14" cardstock since it takes my preferred pen, pencil and marker how I like and without bleeding through into the next page. I wanted it to be comfortable to use on a table or my lap. For the trip it was just a couple of pieces of non-corrugated cardboard and rubber bands sandwiching paper. The idea came last minute so I cut the carboard to size, sandwiched in a short stack of paper and rubber banded it together an hour before we drove to the airport.

I used the pen/pencil case, and pad in airplanes, cafes, beaches, ferries for the last week of travel. Overall they worked well! I also have a number of ideas that would make both more functional and easy to use. On the airplane last night, I had time to design one of these: a printable "spline" to retain one side of the cardboard/papers and also have space for a pen or two to slide in.

If you've made it this far, perhaps you are interested in this type of solution too. I invite you to share your thoughts via the google form about what could make these product concepts the most useful to you (https://forms.gle/qNc2wZMp9e1ZxTqy8). Feel free to share this page if there's someone you know who might be interested too.

Personal Context

I've been seriously exploring sketching and drawing from the lens of Product Design since an intensive Exploration of Hobbies 18 months ago. In this time I've tried over a dozen pads/papers and about 85 distinct pens, pencils markers and erasers (A few of my drawings and supplies are pictured below).

I'm certain this will continue to change and evolve, and for now my everyday carry Sketching Kit looks like:
1. Pilot Precise V5 Extra Fine ball point pen
2. Bic Fine tip marker
3. Copic sketch N4 Grey marker
4. Pentel GraphGear500 0.7 mechanical pencil with blue Pentel lead

These meet the following criteria:
1. The inks dry quickly and do not smudge each other or my hand, or bleed through my paper.
2. The mix give a range of line weights for sketching and definition.
3. Using each one is smooth, consistent and gives an aesthetic I enjoy.

Big shout out to Jeremy Sanders! We met at my physical product development workshop just over a month ago and have had a few morning coffee sessions where we've talked through sourcing manufactures for his new product, and he's given me an industrial design lesson.

Check him out at https://www.bigjermdesign.com/ (Also, below is his pen/pencil/marker case, which served as inspiration for me. He swears by it, it's the carrying case for a detachable car stereo face from years ago).

Lastly, I wanted to offer gratitude to other product designers for their help and recommendations. I'm working through, and learning a lot from, a couple Industrial Design drawing books, I thought I'd pass them along to you:

1. Sketching: The Basics by Koos Eissen & Steur Roselien
2. Drawing Ideas by Mark Baskinger & William Bardel