A lack of imagination

In my courses – design projects – students need to learn to sketch and draw. By hand. When I tell a new group of Mechanical Engineering or Clinical Technology students that everyone will really be able to do that, I always get a lot of sceptical reactions. Many of them believe that they ‘have zero talent for drawing’ or that they are simply bad at it for some other reason – and will always remain so.

I tell them that they don’t need to become Michelangelo, that they do not need to learn to draw beautifully. It’s about learning to draw effectively. Well enough to develop and communicate ideas through sketching. And that is something everyone can learn to do. There are exercises to help you. Techniques to use. It will all be ok.

Last year I had a student that was exceptionally stubborn and kept asking if she could write down her ideas instead of drawing them. By all means do so, I answered, but I want you to practice drawing too. She promised to try. “But it’s such a huge effort for me! Believe me, my head simply does not work like that.”

Bullshit, I thought. You just need to get over yourself. I hear this every year, and it is always simply a question of practice. Then it gets easier and easier. It may not become second nature, but easy enough to be of use. Drawing more always leads to a better design.

It would have been better if she had asked me why I did not believe her

And the assignments she handed in looked fine. You see! You’re doing it. “But sir, it takes me so much time. I have to think about every single line. I simply do not have a visual imagination.” Yes, that is exactly why I keep pushing you to practice. It will help develop your spatial insight.

She soldiered on. We had the occasional friendly argument. She said that she was really unable to imagine shapes or images in her mind if she did not see them literally in front of her. But that was something I could not imagine. I did my best to convince her that it really was a question of practice. I asked her why she refused to believe in herself. But it would have been better if she had asked me why I did not believe her.

Shortly after the course ended, I came across an article on aphantasia. It turns out it really is a thing: people who can not imagine images in their minds. Quite normal. But even science has only recently started believing people like this. I emailed her the link. Yes exactly, that’s what I have, she answered. You should have mentioned that term, I replied, then I would have looked it up and dealt with the situation differently. But she had done so. I simply hadn’t noticed.

I’ve told myself this before, but apparently not often enough: students are humans, all of them different. Often so different that it is difficult to imagine. So if they tell you something that you find hard to believe, you may just need to try a bit harder instead of stubbornly refusing to do so.