How To: Cardboard Sketchbook

In one of our early Youth Design Studio classes, our students assembled handmade sketchbooks from recycled cardboard.

We talked with our students about what it means to be a designer and a critical thinker: that you're always ready to be creative, constantly recording new ideas that may help you improve upon your designs. This is part of our circular design thinking process:

In their new-found role as designers, our students used their sketchbooks to jot down ideas and sketches throughout the class, and also recorded inspirations outside of class. 

1. In keeping with our philosophy of using recycled materials wherever possible, our covers were made from cardboard boxes gathered from grocery stores. Most businesses receive shipments in cardboard boxes, so it shouldn't take too long for you to locate some!
2. The covers were measured, marked, and then scored with X-acto knives so that we could fold them into a cover shape.
3. We folded stacks of A4 sheets of paper in half to create "signatures," the sections that are eventually bound into the sketchbook cover. Then we used a needle and thread to stitch the signatures securely into the cover to create the binding. (You can simplify the binding if you're working with younger children, for example by using string and tying each signature separately into the cover.)

While the sewing technique was challenging, using a needle and thread helped our students give extra security and structure to their sketchbook bindings. As we shared in class, this is the way that books were made by hand historically, before machines came onto the scene! Now our students are not only design thinkers, but they have also mastered the art of ancient book-binding!

Our students were patient, exacting, and careful with their sketchbook binding, and they created some amazing results! Several of our crowdfunding supporters will be receiving student-made sketchbooks as a reward, so look for those coming your way soon!

Curious about the Youth Design Studio perspective on design? Check out our earlier blog posts on what design is and who designers are.  These ideas have shaped the class, and we hope they’ll get you thinking about your world in a new way as well!