As a vehicle of experimentation and discovery, sketch models are engaged as a creative tool in generating and developing conceptual ideas during the early stages of the design process.
This active, exploratory use of models reflects how physical manipulation, and be it cardboard, plastics, wood or clay, can expose faults and weaknesses in 3D conceptualisation that would never reveal themselves on paper.
Moreover, through physical manipulation we have time to reflect on what we are doing ('reflection-in-action'; Schon 1983) - and the more we engage our senses the more we increase the learning opportunity.
Indeed, the tactile experience through physical modelling enables us to understand things that we cannot just understand with our eyes.
Schon, D. 1983. The Reflective Practitioner. Temple-Smith. London
