In the first section, this contribution starts out by briefly summarizing the historical development of the institutional and socio-cultural settings in which drawing classes were developed in Europe since the Renaissance. The recapitulation of the historical development contextualizes the second section, in which the analytical drawing course, taught since the 1920s in the foundation year of the Basel Trade School, is presented and discussed. While the drawing of a cube in the context of analytical drawing teaches students to observe and represent angles and planes, it is transferring as well a defined aesthetic preconception of our world, as representable in a combination of basic spheres. In contrast, the third section is proposing contemporary drawing experiments which focus on the observation of sensuous experiences in the very act of drawing. These ex¬perimental exercises aim to teach learning from the inside and develop an approach of inquiring into the design processes through an involvement in the very materiality and physicality of drawing. The ability to observe and analyse the act of drawing as well as the comparative evaluation of the results, allows the students to recognize and verbalize a variety of influences, which guide our intuitive decision making in the act of drawing from socio-cultural traits to individual preconceptions. This approach can be seen as a contribution towards a multivocal practice of visual communication.