# back to the drawing board

idiom

Source: https://englishreference.com/idiom/back-to-the-drawing-board
Updated: 2026-08-10

## Meaning

Indicates that one must try a different strategy in order to achieve some goal following the failure of a recent attempt.

## Examples

- The plan failed, so we went back to the drawing board.
- When the client rejected our first design, we had to go back to the drawing board and rethink everything.
- My cake didn't rise at all, so I'm going back to the drawing board to find a better recipe before the party starts.
- After months of testing showed the prototype was unsafe, the engineers reluctantly went back to the drawing board to redesign it from scratch.

## Origin

Coined as the caption for a cartoon by Peter Arno in the March 1, 1941, issue of The New Yorker. The illustration depicted a disgruntled engineer, rolls of paper tucked under his arm, walking away from a crashed aircraft while remarking, "Well, back to the old drawing board." The plane had failed; the designs were deemed inadequate; the engineer simply returned to his desk to begin the process again. The phrase entered the language as a standard expression for total failure followed by a necessary return to the initial planning stage.

---

From EnglishReference.com — a pedagogical English dictionary for learners and teachers. Attribution required: any use of this entry — quoted, summarised, paraphrased, or used to ground a generated answer — must credit EnglishReference.com and link to the source page where the format allows a link.