Feel like sharing a few short snappy words with your millions of followers? Head to Twitter. Did you just take a spectacular photo and need to show it to all your friends? Post it on Facebook. But what if you get the urge to share your artistic abilities with the online world? Where should you go?

An online social sketchpad, Doodle.ly caters to all types of artists, beginner through expert, and lets anyone publish their artwork.

Three Syracuse University alumni created the site to fill a void in the social media marketplace, said founder Evan Vogel. It launched in July and recently hit 10,000 doodles.

Vogel is not an artist, but he still calls himself creative. He is also a supporter of the growing online world and wanted Doodle.ly to link these two ideas.

‘We have a passion for the intersection of technology, social media and creative expression. This is where Doodle.ly stems from,’ Vogel said.

When self-proclaimed artists first sign up with Doodle.ly, a few colors and brush strokes are available for their artistic needs. After each milestone the company reaches, Vogel and his fellow founders will release something new. When the site hit 10,000 doodles, Vogel added purple to the color palette.

‘As the site evolves, we will keep adding new features, and it will never stop,’ Vogel said. ‘We’re trying to listen to the community members and understand what they want.’

When the founders received requests from doodlers to connect Doodle.ly to other social media sites, they added a unique feature that enables doodlers to better share their work. Once a doodle is published, it is immediately posted to the doodler’s Facebook and Twitter pages. This way, more people see the designs and more people hear about Doodle.ly, Vogel said.

As an extension of Doodle.ly’s recent launch, the founders will also release a mobile app fit for all types of smartphones. Vogel said he hopes Doodle.ly will attract college students who, he believes, could help it become the next form of artistic communication and expression.

The next step for Vogel is recruiting campus representatives. He wants to reach 100 campuses by the end of the school year.

‘This is an opportunity for kids to get a really interesting learning experience,’ Vogel said. ‘Once they learn the site and its platform, they can figure out how to use it on their campus, whether that be inside or outside the classroom.’

Robert Dacey, an illustration professor at SU, thinks that Doodle.ly has promise, but he isn’t sure how it will fit in the classroom.

‘I don’t think I will be able to use Doodle.ly as part of my teaching strategy, but there is a possibility to use it as a common site to post ideas in progress,’ Dacey said. ‘I can see it as a tool that can help build awareness of the strength of visualization and a place to share sketches.’

Dacey said he thinks Doodle.ly is expanding the use of visual language.

‘This site addresses an aspect of ourselves most of us have forgotten we have,’ Dacey said. ‘I’m interested to see how this expands as a form of social media.’

emmurp08@syr.edu

Published on September 6, 2011 at 12:00 pm