Drawing, Doodling & Writing On Paper Builds Creative Thinking Skills

All kinds of makers & children instinctively know this to be true: there is something satisfying about putting pen to paper and making marks.
Drawing, doodling and writing can be a joyful meditative exercise in letting the mind roam. A way to be mindful and slow down. Connect. It's also a cornerstone to what John Debes termed in 1969 as visual literacy, an important 21st century skill kids need.

Therefore I wasn't surprised when I read this article about how "in a digital chapter, paper notebooks are as relevant as ever."A few interesting facts I discovered:

"The Italian company that makes Moleskines — all 500 versions — is red hot, consistently recording double-digit sales growth. Oddly enough, the analog company's success has grown in tandem with the digital revolution. In fact, when conducting market research, the company detected something even more perplexing: a direct correlation between sales of its little black notebooks and proximity to an Apple store."
 In a recent study:

"The students who used paper scored significantly higher than those who used laptops. Mueller attributes this unexpected finding — published in the journal, Psychological Science — to the fact that the "analog" note takers were forced to synthesize rather than merely transcribe. It's a phenomenon known as "desirable difficulty."

"Desirable difficulty is some small roadblock that is in your path that actually improves your understanding of a topic."

Drawing actually builds creative design thinking skills we need to solve the world's problems. Just ask a working artist, architect, designer or engineer how important drawing is to their work.

But the great thing about drawing is you don't have to be  professional to enjoy it! A box of crayons and sheet of paper will do the trick. I recently read the smell of crayons can reduce stress.  I haven't see any science to back it up, but I don't think it really matters to my niece.

How has drawing made your life richer?

RELATED LINKS

Here's a link to the paper: The Pen Is Mightier Than the Keyboard by Pam A Mueller & Daniel M. Oppenheimer.
The Big Draw, The World's Biggest Drawing Festival, UK (RAD!)
Draw Yourself Happy: Drawing, Creativity + Your Brain
This is Your Brain On Writing, The New York Times 
Artistic Creativity & The Brain, Essays On Science & Society
How Arts Develop The Young Brain


I hope you enjoyed my notes.
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