Interactive freehand sketching as the means for online communication of design intent in conceptual design conducted by Brainwriting

Sketching is becoming an irrelevant activity of engineering studies. The availability of many software that aids designers in all phases of design, not only analytic but synthetic, push technicians, designers to use such tools, giving up the employment of a simple pencil and eraser on a sheet of paper. The productivity of software tools is obliged to speed and manage the whole design process; even freehand sketching remains the fundamental means to communicate the first ideas immediately. During Brainwriting sessions, the ability to explain by sketches first elaborations of a possible solution, that must be understood by co-designers, is the first step that allows more fruitful discussion and immediate adjustment towards a quick embodiment of valid proposals. The paper describes how such techniques has been introduced in the mechanical engineering curriculum. The case of study reports the experience of the Brainwriting online, which has been tested during lockdown due to the pandemic disease of COVID-19. Further in the paper it is suggested a new interpretation of the de Saussure general linguistic studies, in term of a communication that is associated to a drawing.