The following questions underpinned the focus of my PhD research and mapped to the following research methods:

How is process drawing encouraged and used as part of the creative process of design students at WSU?

I identified current creative visual thinking processes (taught and assessed), of Visual Communication design students at the Western Sydney University through a literature review and ethnographical approach.

Literature Review:
The thesis includes an analyisis of the Subject Outlines and Learning Guides providing evidence of syllabus requirements (suggested and assessed) and an analysis of the nature of these requirements and process specifications.

Classroom observations:
I observed and reflected on my teaching practice and collected evidence showing that the use of a rough sketch or thumbnail and how this fosters creativity and encourages reluctant drawers to utilise the sketch in their ideation processes. This included evaluations of in-class activities and student feedback gathered from the Student Feedback Surveys.

Recorded Interviews
I selected interviewees from the high achieving students in third and fourth year.

Script summary example:
Thank you for participating in this interview. This will only take 15 minutes of your time. Your assignment has already been assessed. What you discuss here today will remain anonymous and has no influence on your current mark or any future mark for this Unit or any other Units.

Everyone has his or her own unique ‘idea generating’ process that they know works for them. I am interested to know what creative thinking process or processes you have used to come up with your initial ideas for this assignment.

Try and think back to the moment you were given the brief or started thinking about this assignment. Using your diary as reference (if relevant), describe to me what you thought or did first? Do you use this process for all your assignments? If not, why and when would you use a different approach?

What is the current attitude to doodling/drawing and sketching of WSU Design students?
Why Draw? Questionnaire
I collected responses from 1st yr Communication Arts Design students, Visual Story telling Unit over a 4 year period. The questionnaire is designed as multiple choice questions with room for additional comments.

Do professional graphic designers ‘sketch’ and value drawing in their design process?
I investigated the design thinking practices in the Australian graphic design industry through a literature review which included exisiting written and recorded interviews. I also used a practice-led approach and recorded observations of my use of drawing in my illustration and graphic design practices.

Can speed drawing exercises demonstrate the value of drawing and encourage participation?Observations and outcomes of classroom activities conducted with WSU design students provided insights also. The following activities were trailed but not all were included in the thesis.

• Speed Squiggling (based on Robert McKim’s 30 circle exercise)
• Speed Storyboarding
• Speed mind-mapping
• Forward, Backward Doodling

A practice-led approach was also included but not all data was included in the thesis. It included an anayisis of the role of process drawing in the development of my water squiggle images; videos taken of my live onstage drawing performances which use the Squiggle and compare this with other performances that used the squiggle as an improvisational drawing devices; an analyisis of the ‘forwards/backwards’ doodling activities; and an evaluation my creative thinking processes through the analysis of my recorded Sketch app ‘thinking trails’.