A computer is just a tool. I use them to help with my design. Years ago I did all my design ‘the old fashioned way - on paper with a pencil and then ink. It worked well until I needed to make even a small change to my designs. Then it was back to the drawing board and I had to start all over.
I still do my sketching on paper with an old fashioned pen. Then I scan my drawing into the computer and work with a digital pen these days - still by hand but in a virtual way - one line at a time. The end result looks very much the same as the old way. The drawing process involves a similar amount of work. The big advantage is that the often required changes to my designs are much easier to accomplish on the digital platform. Assembling and rearranging my presentations is also much easier and I no longer have to run to town to get expensive color photocopies to present to the clients. Best of all I can send my designs worldwide in the blink of an eye instead of relying on expensive couriers who sometimes missed deadlines.
I got my first computer a little more than 10 years ago when the digital drawing tablet first came out. Since then I’ve constantly upgraded my computers and learned new programs as necessary. Two years ago I was intrigued by all the buzz I was hearing about Macs. Being a person who is anything but technically minded I wanted something that was more stable than I had been using - something I could run without worrying about the tool I was using. With the encouragement from a couple of friends who had already made the switch I bought a Mac laptop to try it out. It was love at first sight! For me it seemed easier and more intuitive than anything else I had tried previously. It was a tool I was comfortable with. I decided when my desk top computer needed to be upgraded I would consider ‘going to the other side’ completely.
My new hot rod iMac arrived yesterday... and the switch from a PC based system has been pretty painless so far - bordering on fun. But like all the tools in my workshop it isn’t about them but rather the work I do with them. I’m hoping my new Mac will allow me to forget about the tool and concentrate instead on the work at hand.
-grampa dan