Actually, the simplicity is hardly to be surpassed, a designer and his/her tool. A sheet of paper and a pen, maybe a marker, that's it. If a camera is then targeted on the development of a drawing or sketch, the whole is no longer very different from the stage presence of a performer or a music performance.

Mistakes seem to be somehow banished. For an eraser one looks in vain usually. In the past ink had to be scraped at least, embarrassingly noticed by the colleagues, but here the whole procession is performed quite quickly and apparently without breakdowns. Sometimes the finger is used inside the drawing, but rather to create a surface and probably not to correct it. It is almost fantastic when someone with a few strokes develops a characteristic, e.g. the typical of a (known) person.

This is, of course, not the case with the design of vehicles. But it remains admirable how someone with such modest funds gets such effects on the paper. One is tempted to search for the mystery of this activity. There must be some trick which could be used to accomplish the same magic. But it is like with famous musicians, they only have themselves and the instrument, almost always the notes in the head and simply use their experience through decades of excercises.

When drawing, as is usually the case with music, too, there is probably added a certain natural talent, perhaps even for instance in the youth to recognize. Because at the beginning of the drawing, this is not apparent for a lay person. It is like drawing of a cow, which consists only of dots, you have to step back to recognize the motif. Thus the drawing of a designer is only revealed in the somewhat advanced process of development. Here too, as in the geniality of the invention of the wheel, the simpler the better.

And if the fining of ideas is added as a problem, the simplicity of the tools is even more brilliant. Because ideas do not come, if one can use them best. There may be then a napkin, a beermat or something else highly welcome, on which one can write or draw. The world of automobile construction is full of stories in which the visualizing were so detained. Above you will find Ben Ponts's famous sketch in his notebook, with which he has made palatable the VW superiors the birth of the VW transporter 1949.

Almost more famous is the drawing of the planned Austin Mini by Alec Issigonis on a paper napkin. After all, a designer might carry a smartphone today, but keeping an idea must not take too long because the next one is coming just during the recording. Anyway, the driving in public transport if possible with school classes, is an insider tip for finding ideas.

Even the first sketch is more than just documenting an idea. For these usually do not hold to laws, which favor their realization. Thus, this must be done directly, another talent from designers. This is then also intended to facilitate a possible communication of the idea, that is to say, it is usually better understood by others than the idea itself. Presumably the designers were the first who were forced to communicate their ideas even to the customers, too.

Today it is no longer different for 'ordinary' engineers, but designers are usually ahead of them. It can be assumed that a lot of effort is being made to win customer orders. On the one hand, this goes far beyond sketches, but in the case of previously unexpected inquiries, it again requires their particularly scarce use.

Even the preparation of a presentation makes the use of computer technology indispensable. But, of course, designers also use digital technology. 3-D CAD with rendering functions, but also software like Photoshop is necessary. And sometimes the pencil remains completely unused, because the whole process of creation is realized with the computer.

Unfortunately, sometimes a piece of freedom is lost, which is stuck in loosely drawn lines, without any indication of thickness and arrangement in the room. This can then also be specified later if corresponding shares in the design have also made progress. But the CAD-computer determines. The line has an exact location. One could almost produce the part, but it is still too early. Of course an easy-wipe effect is possible, but then perhaps a connected system breaks down. Certain advantages of the sketch, the computer does not seem to be able to catch up.

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