Idiom
Back to the drawing board
Back to the drawing board means you must start planning again because the first attempt or idea failed.
How people use it
People say it after a plan, design or idea does not work (the customers hated the new logo, so it's back to the drawing board). It is often used as a short, shrugging comment on its own. It can be said with frustration or good humor, and it suggests trying again rather than giving up. It does not need an actual drawing; it applies to any kind of plan.
Also said: back to the old drawing board.
Examples
- The robot fell over at the science fair, so the team went back to the drawing board.
- Our vacation budget didn't work at all; it's back to the drawing board.
- After the taste test, the chef went back to the drawing board with the new soup.
Where it comes from
A drawing board is the large, tilted table that architects and engineers used for sketching designs. The phrase was made popular by a 1941 cartoon by Peter Arno in The New Yorker. It showed people rushing toward a crashed airplane while its designer walks away with rolled-up plans, saying 'Well, back to the old drawing board.'
Check yourself
1. When a team says it's back to the drawing board, what are they doing?
Answer: Starting a plan over after it failed. Back to the drawing board means starting again because the first plan did not work.
2. Which sentence uses the idiom correctly?
Answer: The bridge model collapsed under the weight, so it was back to the drawing board.. A failed model means starting over. A perfect plan needs no restart, and the pencils sentence is literal.
Similar idioms
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