Abstract

Effective design communication skills are necessary for success within the apparel and interior design professions. This project aimed to incorporate the use of pen-based digital drawing tools into studio instruction in apparel and interior design and assess the effectiveness of the instructional enhancement on critical student learning outcomes relating to technical and aesthetic quality of digital drawings. Results of the assessment revealed that students perceived the mouse to be more effective than the digital pen, with respect to both technical quality of line (line weight, consistency, and smoothness) and aesthetic quality of line (line depth, expression, character, flow, and movement) of digital drawings. However, the digital pen was perceived to be more effective among Interior Design students than Apparel Design students with respect to technical quality of form (proportion and level of detail). Hence, the findings of this exploratory assessment revealed that the mouse was the preferred tool for students in context to the aesthetic and technical quality of the line when creating technical drawings with a reference object. Future studies need to investigate whether the digital pen is more effective than the mouse in the context of free-form drawings that students create from their imagination without a reference object.