Appreciation post: old drafting boards vs. digital layouts

Found a 1980s drafting table at a garage sale for $30 this weekend, and it got me thinking. I pulled out some old blueprints I saved from 15 years ago, and the line work on those hand-drawn plans is way cleaner than what I can do in AutoCAD on a rushed Tuesday. Has anyone else noticed how much faster we work now but maybe lose a little precision with the mouse?

2 comments

2 Comments

paul_thompson6720d ago

@lily97 that's a cool setup... I was always the guy saying "digital is just better, get with the times" but now I'm wondering if I was wrong. Picked up an old drafting board last year too and started doing rough sketches in pencil before jumping into CAD, and yeah... the final drawings just have a different feel to them, more deliberate. Even the little things like noticing how much cleaner my line weights got when I actually slowed down and thought about each stroke first.

lily9720d ago

Turned my old drafting board into a standing desk hybrid. Got a cheap monitor arm, clamped it to the back edge. Now I sketch ideas by hand on paper first, then scan them into Illustrator for the final polish. Catches the ergonomics crowd off guard too. Never going back to sitting hunched over a mouse eight hours straight.