The Design Equipment Creatives Use Beyond Screens and Softwares

Design is often perceived as something that happens entirely on screens. When we talk about design equipment, we think of digital tools/softwares like Photoshop, Figma, CAD. But in reality, the foundation of creative work rarely begin digitally and instead start with something as simple as a pen and paper.

Designers across disciplines rely heavily on physical design equipment to verify accuracy, understand material behavior, measure real-world dimensions, and observe how work exists beyond the screen. 

Austin Kleon, in his book “Steal like an artist” has a whole chapter dedicated to these analog tools. It wasn’t till he started bringing analog tools back into his creative process and that’s when things became fun and his work started to improve because, he mentioned “once computer is involved, things go on an inevitable path to being finished. Whereas in my sketchbook the possibilities are endless”.

These tools support creative work but rarely get discussed. So today at Emoris, let us explore this overlooked side of design, the side beyond digital conversations, the physical equipment and tools designers rely on.

1) How Graphic Designers Use Equipment to See Colors Accurately?

In the core of graphic design, color plays a critical role. Think about the red of ‘Cola-Cola’ or the blue of ‘Twitter’. Everywhere you go, these colors remain consistent, on digital interfaces or on prints. It ‘s not an easy job to nail colors because what we see on screens is very different in prints. Thus understanding color theory becomes an essential part of this.

Digital devices has a huge mismatch between screen and prints. If you really want to go in-depth on this mismatch, we recommend the book “Real World Color Management” by Bruce Fraser, Fred Bunting and Chris Murphy. If you’re a beginner, you don’t need to purchase the book, as it’s a bit expensive and there are plenty of free resources available on the internet and YouTube.

So, graphic designers use many equipments to deal with color, some of these are:

  • Pantone color guides – They serve a very useful tool to maintain color consistency across mediums.
  • Monitor color calibrator– Another useful device, it is used to achieve color accurate workflow. 
  • Gray cards– They are often by designers and photographers to achieve correct color and exposure. They are often used to ensure that colors are not affected by light or screens.

What a lot of designers practice, especially starting from design school, is test printing. We take lots of test prints to verify the colors in real life. Perception of color changes from screen to print, artificial light to natural light. Testing the prints in different lighting becomes an important part of the process. 

A lot of times, existing packaging, books, magazines serve as swatches of colors. We understand how a color might interact with certain material, texture other colors. 

2) How UI/UX Designers Use Design Equipment to Think?

When we think of UI/UX we immediately picture digital wireframes, Figma prototypes. But in reality the process of a seamless flow begins with simple sketches. UI/UX designers start with sketching out the user journey. The process involves many doodles of how a flow might look like. A simple sketchbook or paper sheets is how you get started.

Many UI/UX workflows start with sketching, sticky-notes, and paper prototyping, which enables designers to test user experiences before committing to digital tools. Some more examples of physical equipments that designers use are:

  • Color pencils – These are used to draw illustrations, multiple userflows or just brainstorming sessions.
  • Charcoal pencils – These are used to quickly bring your ideas to paper. Quick, dirty sketches are often where best ideas come from. You can sketch out mind maps, journey maps, behavior maps, system flow diagrams to communicate better with your team.
  • Sticky notes – They the best way to segregate and organise your ideas. It really helps you go to and fro.

Paper prototyping and card sorting are some more powerful tools that help save time and cost by identifying usability problems and pain points early. Many designers sketch interface ideas by hand before moving to digital tools. This process helps uncover errors, gaps, and moments where users might get stuck.

Working on paper also removes the constraints of software and makes it easier to explore freely. Because sketches feel temporary, designers are less emotionally attached to them, if it doesn’t work, you can toss it and find another way.

All these tools help UX/UI designers step out of their screens, brainstorm more, get creative and not limited by softwares.

3) How Product Designers Use Equipments to Evaluate Form, Size, and Interaction?

Unlike visual mediums, products interact physically. A product more than aesthetics needs functionality. If a beautiful looking product doesn’t function then it’s no use to the user. Product designers have to rely on physical tools to ensure accuracy, study scale and usability before moving on to production.

Some physical equipments used by product designers are:

These tools allow product designers to test usability, explore creativity and rank functionality. They also help building prototypes to understand interaction, ergonomic testing and help create human centric products.

4) How Interior Designers Use Equipment to Understand Space, Light, and Material?

Interior design is all about how we experience a space. Every space is designed for its functionality. 

“Space is a prime ingredient in the designer’s palette and the quintessential element in interior design. Space is not a material substance like stone and wood. It is inherently formless and diffuse.”
– Francis D.K. Ching (Author: Interior Design Illustrated)

Professional interior design resources like ArchDaily and Interior Design Magazine stress that spatial choices depend on physical observation, material testing, and lighting evaluation, not just digital visualization.

Interior designers use laser distance meter to calculate precise dimensions of rooms, stairwells, elevators. It helps make accurate floor plans, calculate volume and is more convenient. These are much more efficient than traditional measuring tapes.

Lux meter or illuminance meter is another important device used by interior designers. It helps to measure light falling on a surface. It helps them understand how a space would be illuminated and design a space functionally.

Interior designers carry material swatches of fabrics, curtain drapings, flooring samples, paint cards. It helps them understand better how texture and color would look like in space. It helps clients touch and see the material and finalise the choice before purchasing.

Conceptual sketches, perspective drawings, axonometric and isometric drawings are all part of the design process. Here is a list of equipment utilised by interior designers to plan space, measure light/illuminance, or just sketch ideas:

Pantone has a specific collection dedicated to fashion, home and interiors (FHI). It becomes really useful to achieve color accuracy across digital and physical colors.
All these tools help interior designers understand space, light, proportion, movement before going into the digital phase.

5) Physical Equipments and Tools Used by Architects

Architectural magazines like ArchDaily and RIBA define architectural design as a continuous process that alternates between models, drawings, and actual construction. Scale rulers and physical models are two tools that help turn concepts into a tangible reality.

A drafting table is one of the essential tools used by architects. It helps with technical drawings. 
Some useful design equipment used by architects are:

Today, many digital softwares are available to make fully rendered models you can view from various angles. But physical models are still important to understand the design concept. Physical models help remove ambiguity around a concept. It helps communicate ideas better. 

“Digital tools are incredible, but they can’t replace the simple power of holding your design in your hands. A physical model brings clarity, confidence and a sense of excitement that a screen never quite matches.”
– Markos Design Workshop

Together these tools help architects bring design concepts in physical form. Quick physical mockups help understand space, proportions and volume. 

6) How Fashion Designers Use Equipment to Work With fabric, Form, and Material?

Fashion design exists entirely on material and human form. Digital sketches and renderings help designers communicate their ideas but they remain on screen. Whereas clothing exists in physical form, it interacts with light, texture, movement, gravity. So, designers work closely with physical form and measurements.

The design process starts with quick sketches of design concepts. Some other essential design equipment that fashion designers utilise are:

  • Sketchbooks
  • Drawing pencils
  • Kneadable eraser
  • Watercolors
  • Alcohol markers
  • Carbon paper
  • Mannequins are one of the most useful tools used by fashion designers. It helps understand fabric draping, draft patterns, fittings and tailoring, and display clothing. They help in visualising and refining ideas. It helps understand how a garment interacts with the human body. 
  • Measuring tape is another non-negotiable tool in fashion design. It helps to measure precise body measurements, fabric measurement and ensure exact fittings of clothing.

Some other basic essentials used for cutting and measuring by fashion designers are:

With these tools fashion designers create design concepts from sketches to wearable garments. Isn’t it exciting to see so many physical tools exsiting beyond digital setups we all are so used to!

Conclusion

In conclusion, it’s important to recognize the value of design equipments as these tools allow designers to experiment, test ideas, and understand their work in the real world through touch, scale, material, and context.

Also,you don’t need to learn or master every tool and piece of equipment mentioned above. This guide simply exists to show you that design goes far beyond digital screens.

As a designer, sometimes just knowing that these tools exist is enough. Even if you forget a few names, that’s completely fine you’ll naturally discover and understand them as you grow and work on real projects.

Design isn’t about knowing everything at once. It’s about staying curious, observing, and starting from somewhere, and at your own pace.