Your Tools Define You (and Your Designs)
Understanding how your choice of tools shapes your creative process and final outcomes
That's a topic I've been thinking about for a while. Have you ever had the feeling that you do your best work when you have certain restrictions? And conversely, when you have complete creative freedom, you feel stuck. You can't even start, or if you do, it's difficult to find the right direction. I think this is a common problem, and it might explain why design has become simpler, less thoughtful than it was 20 years ago.
It’s possible to create the same thing with different tools, But every so often it’s not the best way
Let's start with an example: pottery. When creating pottery, you have specific tools - a pottery wheel, sponge, carving tools, etc. The pottery wheel ensures your work is symmetrical. Carving tools with their specific shapes dictate what patterns you can create. You don't need to think too much; you just follow the nature of the tool you're using. If you do this, you'll likely end up with a relatively nice piece.
But imagine you're 3D modeling pottery without ever having done traditional pottery. In any CAD software, you can create any shape you can imagine. You could recreate the same pottery you made with the wheel, but because you don't have the same restrictions, it's much harder to create that natural, flowing shape. Of course, an experienced person can create any pottery design in Blender within minutes. But if we compare beginners working with traditional pottery versus Blender, the results will be entirely different. It's not that CAD software isn't meant for this - it's just that there's no obvious guidance to correct you and lead you in the right direction.
You can draw similar comparisons with other tools. Take pencil and paper versus iPad and Apple Pencil, for instance. The Apple Pencil was created to mimic a physical pencil, and theoretically, you can create the same artwork on both mediums. But naturally, most digital drawings differ significantly from physical ones. Even with perfect pencil simulation on an iPad, paper and regular pencil will always feel different. You can't perfectly simulate the grainy texture of paper and how it interacts with a pencil. All those graphite smudges and imperfections created by imperfect tools like pencils or clay - they create a beauty unique to them. You can try to recreate these effects with other tools, but it won't feel the same, and even if it does, it might not be worth the effort. The same applies to iPad and CAD software - their form factors and functions are created for different purposes. You can create beautiful drawings on an iPad that you'd never be able to recreate on paper.
Your selected heavily influences your Design
That's why to create your best work, you should always try to understand your tools and their capabilities. For example, most young designers use Figma now, and it's a beautiful tool - if you follow its functions, you can create good-looking interfaces. You can create graphic design there too, but because of Figma's nature, it's more challenging. If you don't know graphic design basics and theory, you're better off using Canva, which will be much more suitable for your needs. It will guide you with pre-selected color palettes, templates, and typography. And conversely, you probably wouldn't be able to create a nice UI in Canva.
When I'm designing logos, I mainly use Adobe Illustrator, though I know many people use Figma. I've tried both, and the logos I make in Figma versus Illustrator are completely different. It's not because one tool is better or worse - they're just different. Even slight differences, like Figma's super-snappy vertical and horizontal alignment of anchors versus Illustrator's less automatic alignment, make a big difference. Every function, shortcut, tool, and even the interface itself influences your work. That's why most designs look similar nowadays. Figma has led every startup to use rounded buttons, borders, and gradients because that's Figma's nature, and everyone follows it. This isn't necessarily bad - following a tool's nature is how you create good work. But if you want your work to be great and different, you need more than that.
Now what should i do about it :)
Learn the basics. A strong foundation will help you create anything you want in any tool. That's very powerful nowadays. It can help you see your own work and others' work from a different perspective.
Experiment and learn new tools. If you really want to grow, that's what you should do. Nothing will expand your skills more than trying to learn new tools, workflows, and techniques. Usually, people who create something new are either professionals who entirely understand what they're doing or newcomers who discovered something accidentally. By learning new tools and techniques, you're much more likely to discover something new and useful for yourself and improve your existing vision and skills.
It's okay to try to be different. Don't look for shortcuts; instead, try to find your own path. That's how you discover the nature of your tools and which tools are most natural for you. And that's how you'll create great and unique work.
Just a small note. My name is Vlad, and I’m a Designer. I pretty new to writing, and that’s my second pretty big post in my entire life. I’m supper excited to share more of my thoughts with the world. I hope you enjoyed the reading.