Digital Sketch Modelling - Integrating digital sketching as a transition between sketching and CAD in Industrial Design Education

Oct 15, 2026

Research addresses the tension in industrial design education between traditional hand sketching and digital modelling tools (CAD), especially during students’ transition from sketching to CAD. It presents a new teaching practice, “Digital Sketch Modelling,” combining sketching strengths for ideation with CAD strengths for dimensional accuracy. The approach trains students in digital sketching skills expected by industry graduates, and describes the technique’s key steps plus its curriculum integration over two years, grounded in research.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages15

Reading Time38 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

1. Introduction

Digital sketching tools in design education

Challenges and opportunities in blending hand sketching and CAD

2. Background

Visual representations during the design process

Digital Sketch Modelling: Integrating digital sketching as a transition between sketching and CADin Industrial Design Education Charlie Ranscombe*, Swinburne University of Technology, Australia. Katherine Bissett-Johnson, Swinburne University of Technology, Australia. *Corresponding author e-mail: [cranscombe@swin.edu.au](cranscombe@swin.edu.au) Abstract Literature on the use of design tools in educational settings notes an uneasy relationship between student use of traditional hand sketching and digital modelling tools (CAD) during the industrial design process. This is often manifested in the transition from sketching to CAD and exacerbated by a preference of current students to use CAD. In this research we report the teaching of a new design practice “Digital Sketch Modelling” which combines the strengths of sketching in ideation and CAD in dimensional accuracy while versing students in digital sketching skills that are now expected of graduates going into industry. In doing so we move beyond treating digital sketching asan equivalent of traditional sketching to become a new transitional design tool. This paper sets out the key steps of the Digital Sketch Modelling technique and reports its integration in industrial design curriculum over the last two years. In doing so we contribute a new type of design practice with a research based foundation that answers the requirements of modern industrial design practice. Key words digital sketching, CAD, visual thinking, design sketches 1. Introduction Digitising tablets with pen-based inputs (often known simply as drawing tablets) have become popular and their use widespread across a range of creative and design disciplines. Many industrial design practices now use such hardware regularly in their design process to create digital sketches (defined as 2D images created using the sketch based interface) . Use of these digital tools and associated software facilitates greater opportunity for high quality rendering of materials, more flexible exploration via a means to “undo” actions, and the ability to generate multiple colour and finish variations to name only a few. The widespread use and availability of these tools requires design education to respond ensuring graduating students are competent in their use (Aldoy & Evans, 2011) . This presents both challenges and opportunities for industrial design education. The challenge is in understanding the way in which these tools compliment and contrast traditional hand-sketching techniques (also used in industry) within the design process, and translating this into appropriate exercises/pedagogies that will infer this understanding to students. We perceive the opportunity associated with the use of digital sketching reaching a critical mass in being able to blend the use of traditional analogue sketching and 3d digital modelling tools. In particular we see digital sketching as a means to bridge the troubled waters (further discussed in 2. 2) where students transition from traditional sketching to 3d digital modelling (CAD) during student design projects. The authors acknowledge that there is an existent body of research in computer graphics and HCI fields that explore novel approaches to design tools. Many of these approaches are developed at alab-based level and take many years to become commercially available tools that are adopted by industry. The intention of the research reported in this paper is in responding to current trends in the use of digital tools (digital sketching and CAD) in design practice and propose a blending of them in order to ease transitions between traditional hand-sketch techniques and 3d digital modelling. In this paper we describe how we have addressed the challenges and embraced the opportunities within our teaching practice by introducing a digital sketching technique that we refer to as “Digital Sketch Modelling”. We begin by reviewing typical industrial design techniques focusing on t

FAQs

What problem does the paper target in industrial design education?

It targets the difficult relationship between students’ traditional hand sketching and digital modelling (CAD) during the industrial design process, particularly during the transition from sketching to CAD.

What is “Digital Sketch Modelling”?

“Digital Sketch Modelling” is a new teaching practice that combines sketching for ideation with CAD for dimensional accuracy, while also building students’ digital sketching skills.

How long has the technique been integrated into the curriculum?

The paper reports integration of Digital Sketch Modelling in industrial design curriculum over the last two years.

Oct 15, 2026

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