The Complete Guide to Incorporating Doodles in Your Graphic Design

A little doodles throwback won’t hurt. If you think doodling is a way to goof off, think of days you scribbled on walls with colors as a toddler. You’ve used every inch of the wall to express yourself. As a grown-up, this can be a significant throwback or make you go nuts.

If you say it’s just a kid’s thing, you’re downplaying doodles.

Imagine the number of times you’ve dashed off in the middle of a meeting. Whether it’s about venting your emotions or just killing time, there’s a lot you don’t know about doodles. So, what’s a doodle?

Doodling – An overview

Doodling can be dated to the oldest cave paintings 40,000 years ago. Our ancestors carved on the cave walls to tell their stories. Most of their drawings used stones and sticks as a tool to engrave. Around 3200 BC, the pictures advanced to clay tablets.

You can still find the tablets from Mesopotamian societies. While these art forms emerged, it wasn’t just about drawing. There was so much more to it. The word closer to it is “scribble.”

While many say that doodling is drawing aimlessly, others suggest there’s power and purpose in doodling. From unconscious to quick marks, it can take many forms, patterns, or designs. From a book cover to logo design, doodles are non-verbal messages.

What are the benefits of doodling?

Way to unleash your creativity: Nothing you scribble on a piece of paper or PC is by accident. There’s an emotion involved that can’t survive without creativity. Everything you make is backed with an artist mindset.

Level up your attention span: Doodle your way to increase your focus. Beat your meeting fatigue with the therapeutic art form. Doodle de-stress and help in memory retention.

Promotes catharsis: When you have a deskbound job, it’s normal to have a creative block. But, here’s how you can unwind. When you doodle, you allow your mind to open up. It helps you to let you’re holding tight. In return, you get a self-soothing experience. It declutters your thoughts, frees from mind-boggling, and enables you to think out of the box.

A little humor is a stress buster: While you’re churning out designs after design, it’s essential to take time to laugh. Brace the day with laughter because it’s good medicine. But how? When you draw human faces, the humorous side of your brain gets activated. You allow your mind’s funny side to become activated.

For instance, artists have sketched politicians for newspapers/magazines. The doodle tries to taunt comically. For readers, you are putting a smile on your face.

Become a problem solver: Nobody likes to be nagged by problems. Sometimes, these problems linger for too long and reduce output. Doodling frees you to yield more. With a clear mind, you can solve the problem and do something new.

Whether you’re fresh or already there, it’s accessible when there’s “know-how” for doodling. Here are five styles that will suit you:

1. Zentangle

It’s an easy-to-learn and calming way to create images. There are structure patterns called ‘tangles.’ It can be a combination of dots, lines, shapes, or curves. These simple elements form strokes in all Zentangle art. You use simple pieces of paper called ’tiles’ to draw patterns. Zentangle art is unplanned. You don’t have to care about the result. You can have a zen moment while tangling with one of these elements. Zentagles are based on:

• Focus – each stroke is created with the intent.
• No Eraser – mistakes don’t matter.
• Foundations – from the use of ‘strings.’
• Abstract – unplanned
• Ceremony – soothing tea for your mind

2. Zen doodle

It stems from zentangle art. It shares similar qualities – focus, design, repetitive tangle patterns. Things that set apart are color, size, or shape. You use it on any object such as a leaf, stone, journal, etc.

While zentangle is restricted to resources, you can do a lot with a zen doodle. You don’t have to be Pablo Picasso to do zen doodling. It’s not the sticky man or random shape that you scribbled to beat meeting fatigue. They’re detailed designs you make step by step.

3. Stendoodle

The doodle style requires stencils to create patterns and image outlines. It’s an easy form of doodling unusual designs. You don’t need a professional skill to start seen doodling. It’s all about tracing the shapes or patterns.

4. Mandalas

Mandala originates from a Sanskrit word meaning “circle.” People see it as a spiritual tool to stay rooted. Mandalas promote relaxation because they help you calm down. Sometimes, people also use other shapes, but all of them are revolving around a central point.

You make it with a purpose in mind, e.g., wholeness and connection. The endpoint of the mandala is where you lose your focus. The colors you use in the mandala have a meaning attached to them. For your convenience, here is some colors interpretation:

• Red: Strength, high energy, and passion
• Pink: Love, intuition, and the feminine
• Orange: Creativity, change, self-awareness, and intuition
• Green: New beginning, wealth, progress, and healing

5. Doodle art 

It’s a pattern of doodling that allows you to create diverse images. You can draw in colored or b/w format. Ranging from abstract to intricate pieces, you can make anything to attract the audience.

Wow, win, and woo your customers with different styles of doodling.

Incorporating doodles into business

As technology is evolving, change in marketing strategy is the need of the hour. Storytelling with doodle style is a way to challenge your competition. Whether it’s static or dynamic posts, you can engage with customers using doodles.

Doodle makes your story both powerful and comical. By combining, you have a compelling comic narrative to pique the audience’s interest. Here are some ways you add a doodle to your marketing strategy and get your leads:

• Doodle your email campaigns: 59 percent of marketers in the B2B email is an effective way to generate profit. By using doodles to describe problems is a spark to email marketing. It attracts CTA that offers a solution.
• Doodle your product manual/PDF: Doodle is an effective solution to communicate information visually. It can be used for case studies, e-books, product manuals to tell the product’s story.
• Doodle for social media: With doodles on social media, you don’t worry about description. The picture is worth a million words. Your viewers are wired to consume and register visuals more than a chunk of texts. A simple doodle paves the way for the audience amidst stock images.

Your click rates are higher on social media. Incorporate doodles on your post or product images to connect with potential customers.

• Doodle for blogs: Blogs are an essential part of your website. Prospects would love to read your blog when it’s engaging. If it’s not keeping them engaged for 15-seconds, they can bounce back. There’s a need for a 360 revamp. What does it mean? Include doodles in your article and let it do the talking.

Compared to large text blocks, doodles are de-stressing to the readers. It explains hard-to-read information in a more straightforward form.

• Doodle for product packaging: Doodle can also be used in product packaging. Brands through their package reminiscent childhood memories. You can recognize the need to target consumers in the right manner. For example, featuring doodles of TV shows helps kids to connect.

Besides marketing campaigns, doodles are also used for PPTs and internal communications. Whether it’s seminar or employee engagement activities, doodles add the fun element. Kickstart with doodles that make the viewer laugh and comment.

Craving for attention? Hit the customer’s sweet spot and capture them. Yes! You have stopped them from overthinking. Now, all eyes are on you.

Pen-and-paper to digital doodling

From traditional pen-and-paper to digital doodling, you’ve come a far way. Some think that the doodle has died. But, the trust is, it has just evolved. The good news is, there are software and websites to unlock your creativity. You can now create your masterpiece digitally.

Doodle design is becoming an important art form within graphic design. We discovered its existence when we started seeing it on Google’s website every now and again to celebrate popular celebrations and birthdays of celebrities. Eventually, this exciting artistic idea became the norm.

Today’s drawing is nearby and we expect to see it on our Google homepage at every major event of a Pioneer’s life. Whether it’s a company logo or websites, customers want to interact. In a data-driven world, customers like it when content is not preachy.

All words and no doodle can make your website boring.

Doodle has been around since early man-made patterns on the walls. We know them because of the mark they made. Whether it was with a simple stick or stone, the story engraved told a story.

You can still read these stories in the history book. What has changed is the medium. The narrative is repeated but differently. Like ancestors, you can leave a mark too with a doodle. What and how you do it can change the course of your business.

Tips to Doodle

When you expect everyone’s attention, you should be worth the watch. Here are some tips for doodle to help you a long way:

• Ouch! It would be best if you didn’t overthink: Thinking too hard about doodles is not being productive. It only adds up to the pressure cooker. Choose simplicity over the complex graphic.
• Rules are rules: Follow the code for your convenience. If you are into finance, use dollar signs or purse icons for money. You can show customers/clients with stick figures.
• Words are not everything. But it matters: Doodle has text and imagery in equal proportions. Put boxes around related keywords and arrows between words and pictures to show the connection.
• Everyone deserves a chance: One doesn’t need a PhD. to become a doodler. Encourage everyone to showcase their hidden talent. Don’t sit and assume that it’s a designer’s job. Creativity can come from anywhere. You have to keep your eyes open.

Is doodle all playful?

Doodles aren’t childish art anymore. Whether it has innocence or is made by an adult, there’s a story. Your customers can visualize the information through a doodle. Many designers create logos in a sketchy form, which is creative and interactive. If your idea is unique, it’s a cherry on top of your brand’s image. Here’s how doodle can create a psychological effect on your customers:

Doodle as gesture: There’s a natural flow of emotions when customers see your product. Doodles have feelings embedded in them. You may doodle intentionally or unintentionally, but it carries significant meaning. By looking at your doodle, they get relief from stress. Psychology, doodle is also used for patients suffering from depression and anxiety.

Doodle for the digital market: Have you seen Google doodle? Sometimes, they put great stuff by creating handmade doodles. How does it help digitally? While the transition is a good thing, one should not forget the roots. A pencil and paper doodle may sound old-fashioned, but they include more emotions.

In the pursuit of digital doodle, you shouldn’t leave behind the old. Here are a few examples:

• Cafes around the world have a creative wall. They use doodles to tell a story. It adds a human element to the business you run. Gone are the days when people visited cafes for food and photos. With a creative marketing strategy, they have become a place of interaction. Doodle can interpret the intensity of the brand’s definition.
• The famous brand Red Bull presents the reality experience where the contestants are guided. They coach them with experts to give their idea a 3D dimension. Red Bull Doodle Art offers artists a chance to share their imagination and doodle skills.

Similarly, the use of doodles can be seen in multiple industries:

• Fashion
• Architecture
• Graphic Designing
• SEO gestures

Doodle spirit: Doodles are a game-changer. It gives a whole new dimension to your brand. My passion for doodling has changed academics. Budding designers can pursue this art to level up their creativity.

What is graphic doodling?

Doodles represent images and help graphic arts professionals make sense of the concepts in their artwork. ” Artistic doodle requires many techniques that doodlers must learn before attempting their art. It has various swirls.

Famous doodler

Nothing can put your thoughts better on paper without a doodle. The best part about doodle is that it’s not related to one topic. It can convey hell a lot of meaning. Here are some doodlers you must search on the internet today:

• The doodle boy, aka Joel Whale: He’s just ten-year-old, but he’s way ahead of his age. He barely knew he’d be listed among top doodlers when his teachers caught him for doodling at school. He decorated a local restaurant in his cartoon-style doodles, which gained attention. He’s been creating art since he was 3.
• Mr. Doodle, aka Sam Cox: He’s a doodle artist who describes his life mission as doodling everywhere. His work consumes surfaces, walls, and furniture in an almost viral form. It’s growing relentlessly in clusters of characters, and objects, and patterns. He travels the world to unleash his doodle skills.
• Visoth Kakvei: He’s a Cambodian designer known for the most intricate hand-drawn doodle art. You can see the depth in his work and how he does it digitally. Whether it’s the burst of colors or changing the makeover of a solid object, his page pops out. Visit, you’ll find jaw-dropping doodle.
• Hattie Stewart: She’s a London-based artist and illustrator. She’s known as the undisputed queen of doodle art illustrations. You can see her unique graphic style, iconic cover takeovers, and client work with Adidas and Apple.
• Géraldine Georges: He was a graphic designer for seven years before stepping into freelance illustrator. His doodles are mostly collages and perfectly blend photography and illustration.
• Eva-Lott Lam: She’s an experienced UX designer. She’s a full-time employee with Google; she creates web and interface design. Once she returns from her job, she enjoys graphic design and illustration. You can see her series of sketch notes. Her doodled notes are helpful for long meetings.
• Mattias Adolfsson: From PC to kid’s book, this Swedish illustrator has earned a big name in doodle art. His course ‘The art of sketching’ helps you to transform doodles into art.
• Matt Lyon: He’s the London-based phenomenal artist. His work stems from incessant doodling, often laced with wild colors, shapes, and patterns. You’ll never stop loving them.
• Fred Blunt: Inspired by The Muppets, Quentin Blake, and The Flintstones, Fred Blunt became a compulsive doodler. His characters are an instant source of cuteness. It can make you reminisce about your childhood days.
• Pat Perry: As his mind wanders, he scribbles surreal eye-capturing visuals. For this Michigan artist, drawing helps to work through the complexities of life. His viewers find his art therapeutic too.
• Kerby Rosanes: He’s a graphic designer cum SEO specialist. He has a knack for doodling, and he does it on his personal blog ‘Sketchy Stories.’
• Lisa Krasse: She has combined her passion for drawing and fashion designer. Lisa uses doodles for her sneakers to bring out a unique style. You can check her work Behance.
• Jim Bradshaw: Since he started using a pencil, Jim has never put it down. This New Jersey illustrator left his full-time director job to pursue doodling. His doodles expose a weird and wacky world. It often includes creatures from outer space and walking tree stumps.
• Chris Piascik: Formerly known as a designer, this illustrator became a famous face in the doodle industry. Chris took the daily drawing challenge in 2007, which changed his life forever. Once he was done with 1000, he made a collective called ‘1000 days of drawing’. You can still find his work, which is worth praising. 
• Johanna Basford: Her unique doodlestyle allowed her to doodle for the international coffee company Starbucks. From sending the company doodled paper cups, Johanna was asked to design a wallpaper for the redesign of Starbucks’ Vigo Street store in London. Within the design, you can see tiny coffee cups, elusive birds, and odd Frappuccino.
• Chris Glasz: The owner of the Tumblr blog has used Doodle Format. From being inspired by popular films, he illustrated them as creative doodles. When you run out of ideas, you can go to Tumblr to seek inspiration.

What’s stopping you from doodling?

Doodles are an open door for conversation. This invitation for user engagement is not one-sided. The more you engage with the customer, the stronger your relationships. Keep the conversation going by doodling.

Doodles can be more fun and interesting if you take the help of pro designers at All Time Design. The creative team here has a strong work ethic and caters to the needs of designs.