An evaluation of sketching in early conceptual design processes: physical and immersive environments

New technologies are increasingly being recognized for their potential to be as effective in the early conceptual design process as they are in various industries and disciplines. This study focuses on the evaluation of physical and immersive environments in the sketching process. It examines the impact of sketching different environments on the early conceptual design process. A comprehensive sketching study ranging from paper-based and digital in the physical environment to VR (Virtual reality) and AR (Augmented reality) in the immersive environment was conducted with experiments involving 8 participants. The processes were conducted through protocol studies, and evaluations were performed using methods of protocol analysis and design conversation elements. The collected data was transformed into linkography graphics and analyzed based on content and evaluation criteria. Following the experiments, questionnaires were distributed to gather insights about participants' experiences in both the physical and immersive environments. According to the results of the experiment, the comparison between the physical and immersive environments showed that the design movements were more effective and the design processes were more impactful in the immersive environment. When evaluating the physical environment in terms of analog and digital based, it was observed that design productivity was more efficient in the analog based compared to the digital based, as indicated by numerical data. Upon evaluating the immersive environments individually, it becomes apparent that design productivity tends to be more efficient in AR based than in VR based. This observation is interpreted as a positive factor enhancing the designer's contextual interaction within the immersive AR environment. At the same time, the design process in the AR based was seen to provide dimensional consistency by enabling the production of 1/1 scale outputs. Although physical and immersive environments have different purposes and users in architectural or industrial design disciplines, it is predicted that the active use of immersive environments in the production of design will become more widespread in the near future. Immersive environments allow designers to produce their designs in a three-dimensional (3D) space that more accurately represents the final sketch, allowing for refinement and a better understanding of scale, proportion and spatial relationships.