The word “doodling” is a well-known term around the world, but people seem to have many different perceptions of what it means. I guess it’s because doodling is not perceived as a very serious activity, and a need to define it has not been pressing.
I would like to offer a definition of doodling, since I am dedicating my life to developing this wonderful way of drawing and thinking.
Simple Doodle Definition: A doodle is taking a random line with no specific meaning and developing it into a picture.
Historically, the word “doodle” appeared in the 17th century and meant “fool,” so doodling became a term to describe mindless scribbles, loose and dreamy cartoons, or other useless pictures that you would draw when not trying too hard. Often, these doodles would be left unfinished and open-ended. The classic example is a person on a long phone call, holding the phone with the left hand and keeping the right hand busy with doodles.
From this point of view, it’s not surprising that doodling is seen mostly as fun and not a very useful exercise. But as with everything else in life, things are what you make of them. I have discovered that doodling has great potential both as a form of art and a form of creative thinking, hence my definition below.
Creative Doodling Explained: To fully understand a doodle, you need to understand “random input.” Random input is a well-known tool for creative thinking and acts as something put in at random to break with your habits of thinking, in order to come up with new ideas.
A doodle has great potential for working out such randomness. Let’s first look at how a doodle typically starts its life. You start with drawing a squiggle or a shape and, using this as a starting point, you develop your doodle. A very common thing is to use something that already exists on the paper, like a letterhead or somebody’s scribble, and you continue from there.
So let me summarize a few points about doodling:
- Doodling often starts from a random starting point.
- Doodling is free, open, and relaxed.
- Doodling is open-ended, and not closed up or finished.
- Doodling does not have a specific end goal in mind and allows change of direction and spontaneous ideas.
- Doodling gives a concrete, visual end product.
If we give these casual doodle principles some analysis and structure, we can build them into a new art form, a new way of thinking, and a dynamic training program for imagination and creativity. I call this Creative Doodling.
Creative Doodling:
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The Random Starting Point: This is interesting from the point of view of creating ideas. The nature of randomness is that it makes you break with habits, routines, and regular patterns of thinking. It pushes you onto a new track.
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Doodling is Relaxed: Because the very concept suggests that you cannot go wrong, it’s just for play. This puts you in a state of relaxed focus, which is extremely beneficial for idea creation. You loosen up, the pressure to achieve goes away, and you find a comfortable flow of thought. The fact that the nature of doodling is free and open means that you are open to changes, add-ons, and spontaneous ideas. If the doodle starts in one direction but takes a whole new direction in the middle of the process, you don’t mind because you didn’t have a fixed idea in the first place.
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Doodling is Open-Ended: You can continue growing and evolving it in a more dynamic way than a conventional cartoon. It fits the nature of idea development perfectly. A doodle is a visual mirror of the idea process, and at the end, you have a concrete visual record of the whole thing.
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Doodling is Concrete and Visual: It gives feedback to yourself as you work and communicates well with others. It provides a map of ideas and possibilities, serving as a practical discussion document.
So here is the definition in full:
“Doodling is a drawing developed from a random, visual starting point, like a squiggle, and can be used to break with patterns of thinking, stimulate imaginary images and ideas, or provide visual brainstorms, often with a surprising and fresh result.”
Øistein Kristiansen
Fredrikstad, 19 April 2013
