Hello World!

Experienced designers know this and tend to take a process-first approach to the use of design tools. They think more about what is required in terms of the design process; stakeholder expectations; budget; communication of intent: from explorative, divergent conceptualisation to more constrained, convergent specification. In short, they draw upon a wealth of knowledge and past experience to guide their approach to design activity and tool use.
By contrast, my research suggests the less experienced student of design can be both reassured by the command-based affordances of CAD and dazzled by its ability to create slick, glossy images. A problem with this tool-first approach is that the designer becomes more restricted by what is achievable within the tool's constraints. The objective of design activity and the purpose of tool use shifts away from thoughts of the requirements of design practice towards the production of the CAD model as the motivation for design activity. This results in the, "This is what I did at the weekend" CAD model. "Doesn't it look good?"