Cars

Digital design tools: the state of play in 2025

By and karl2025-02-07T16:52:00

Stoddard-Porsche 914 Live Trace

Software is a constituent part of the modern design studio. We survey a number designers about the state of digital tools, and get some unexpected encouragement from ‘Ratatouille’

It’s 2025. Do you know where your favourite sketching pencil is? Does it even matter? Design studios across all disciplines are increasingly digitising their workflows from conception to manufacturing. Our February Focus is about these tools – software mostly; we will review hardware for another time. Apologies to Wacom, Oculus, and the various computer makers.

We surveyed a number of design professionals at OEMs, independent studios, and educators about their digital tools of choice. Below we present a few of our findings and a look into the future. Interviews with some of these designers will follow throughout the month.

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