Illustration

What Is Exploded View Drawing?

Learn all about this illustration style used in industrial design and architecture

Exploded View is a technical drawing style that shows the individual parts or the assembly order of an object as a diagram.

While it’s often used for patenting objects, it first appeared during the Renaissance, and today is also a popular illustration style that is used to create interesting images that don't necessarily guide the assembly of an object.

What is it used for?

In industrial design, this drawing style helps designers, engineers, manufacturers, and artisans get a three-dimensional, explanatory view of the different parts of an object.

Usually, the diagram gives instructions on how to assemble the object, which you’ve probably seen examples of in manuals explaining how to put together a piece of furniture.

Bennett @bennett4senate
Bennett @bennett4senate

In patents, these diagrams show all of the parts of an object in order to document the design and how it works. Exploded view is also used in architectural illustration and other branches of design, such as landscaping.

Nomi Naci @nominaci
Nomi Naci @nominaci

Advantages of Using Exploded View Diagrams

–You can use them to explain concepts and ideas. If you are an industrial designer or you want to develop a product, it will be easier to explain your product using these diagrams.

–In the production and testing processes, you will be able to easily detect problems or elements that need to be redesigned.

–Once the product exists, these diagrams will help the users understand how it works, and how it should be assembled.

–Your product doesn’t have to be a device: these diagrams are also useful for showing how to pack an item or something similar.

Electronic Meters
Electronic Meters
Delt Design
Delt Design

Beginnings

This innovation was a product of the Renaissance–a period during which artists carefully thought about how to portray reality in a precise way. You can find examples of diagrams showing machines and organisms in this style in the sketchbooks of Renaissance artists such as Marino Taccola and Leonardo Da Vinci.

In the 60s, this tridimensional isometric illustration technique was defined as “exploded view”.

Leonardo da Vinci
Leonardo da Vinci

Artistic uses

A lot of current illustrators play with this drawing style to create fantastical images, or simply to study the structure of their favorite objects or characters.

Smithe

Smithe
Smithe
Nychos
Nychos
Nychos
Nychos
Pear
Pear
Pear
Pear
The Exploded
The Exploded

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