Workshop 1B Reading Activity: Teaching at UAL
TPP
Spark: UAL Creative Teaching and Learning Journal
Drawing laboratory: Research workshops and outcomes
Michelle Salamon, Associate Lecturer, BA (Hons) Graphic Communication Design,
Central Saint Martins
Thoughts
My Reflections on Drawing Lab
The reason I chose this article is that it closely connects to my experience as a lecturer. I work with Year 1 fashion design students during digital communication sessions, where the main goal is to help them build the digital skills they need to meet industry standards. Most of our time is spent working with tools like Adobe Suite and CLO3D, as these are essential for navigating today’s professional environments.
Salamon (2018) points out that “drawing appears to have become an undervalued tool in the art school curriculum, yet it plays a valuable role in encoding and distilling visual experience and transforming it into a concrete and substantive form” (p. 140). This really resonates with my own experience—I’ve noticed something interesting: when I introduce analogue drawing at the beginning of these sessions, the students’ focus and creativity increase noticeably. There’s a different kind of connection that happens when they create by hand, something that digital methods don’t always capture. For example, I’ll ask them to use markers or coloured pens to visually explore ideas from their research. This might mean turning a concept into a pattern, drawing shapes inspired by their research pages, or creating something abstract to represent a feeling. These short exercises have a powerful impact—students become more engaged and take greater interest in their work.
Reading the Drawing Lab article really brought this into focus for me. The project’s aim to explore the connection between drawing and memory resonated with my observations. But I also find myself straggling with a challenge: how to integrate analogue exploration into a curriculum that prioritizes digital skills. The sessions I teach are tightly structured around industry-relevant tools and workflows, which doesn’t leave much room for analogue methods. Reflecting on when I was a student, I remember how much of my process was rooted in drawing by hand. There’s something emotional and deeply personal about creating with pen and paper—it fosters a kind of connection to your work that digital methods don’t always recreate. Even a simple line drawing can be inspirational.
Although digital tools are fast and essential in today’s creative industries, I feel that something valuable is lost when the tactile joy of making by hand is massively reduced. I believe it’s worth finding ways to keep analogue methods alive in my sessions, even in small ways. Not only do they ignite creativity, but they also encourage students to think more deeply about their work and connect with it on a meaningful level.
Thinking deeper:
How can we effectively balance the need for digital skills with preserving the tactile and creative processes of analogue methods?
Reference:
Michelle Salamon, (2018) ‘Drawing laboratory: Research workshops and outcomes’, Spark: UAL Creative Teaching and Learning Journal, 3(2), pp. 131–141.