In celebration of the work doodle

It’s been said that doodling has many benefits, from helping foster creativity to boosting retention and concentration. There have been books written in support of doodling, like Dan Roam’s The Back of the Napkin and Sunni Brown’s Doodle Revolution. I’ve seen everyone doodling in meetings, from assistants to department heads. Even presidents do it.

>Since so many of us do it, I put out an open call asking friends and colleagues to anonymously submit their work doodles. From elaborate works of art to geometric shapes, all these work doodles were fun glimpses into what people can create in the margins. Here are some of the drawings, along with quotes from the contributors:

“Studied industrial design.”

 “Mine are always exactly the same. I’ll usually add in this puppy that a babysitter taught me how to draw when I was like 6.”

“Supposed to be rockets.” “This is definitely not fancy.” “I am not a merry man.” “I found the ones I could, but I know I used to have more.”  “The doodle is old… I never get to doodle at work anymore!”  “We have a secret cat club at my office.”  “Just took a bunch of pics from my doodle wall over here.”

“I just realized I doodled. It wasn’t intentional. Only realized after I was really bored today.”

[Images collected by author and used with permission from the artists]