Design Drawing: Rapid Prototyping through the Design Process

In recent times the focus for designers has been to increasingly engage with technology to generate more realistic and highly finished graphic representations and even virtual reality [VF] simulations that reflect real-to-life versions of potential design outcomes. This paper explores the advantages of design drawing as a form of rapid prototyping. What might be lost as traditional design methods, such as design drawing, are replaced with the release of more accessible, less expensive, technological replacements? The concern for designers, and design education, should be the potential loss of tacit understandings that arise as a part of the traditional design process and the physical, hands-on environment of the studio. This paper argues that the excitement of seeing design ideas rendered in high-tech realism might be at the cost of leaner, more efficient design practice.

Keywords: Design; Drawing; Creative practice; Design education; Fashion design

Abreviation: VR – Virtual Reality; CAD – Computer Aided Design