VISUAL LINK ANALYSIS OF SKETCHING AS A COMMUNICATION TOOL IN THE CONCEPTUAL PHASE OF AUTOMOTIVE DESIGN

Abstract

This study investigates the communicative role of sketching during the conceptual phase of automotive design by analyzing visual link structures produced under different interaction conditions. Eighteen automotive designers, divided into silent (non-verbal) and verbal (spoken) teams, participated in structured sketching tasks comprising individual and collaborative phases. A total of 59 sketching moves that directly contributed to the final design were identified and linked through visual connections, classified as either lateral (divergent) or vertical (refinement). Results reveal that silent groups produced more vertical links during the individual stage (n = 7) compared to verbal groups (n = 4), suggesting that sketching was used as a self-contained communication tool to externalize and clarify design intent. In the collaborative phase, both group types exclusively generated vertical links (n = 15 each), indicating a shared focus on refinement. Visual link maps and annotated sketch sequences demonstrate how silent teams constructed coherent visual narratives across phases, while verbal teams relied more heavily on spoken dialogue to guide refinement. These findings support the use of sketching as a flexible communication modality and establish visual link analysis as a valuable method for studying design behavior in collaborative contexts.