Received 13.10.2025, Revised 26.02.2026, Accepted 09.04.2026 Published 10.04.2026
Despite the emergence of advanced design and modelling technologies, graphic sketching remains one of the primary tools for solving numerous professional tasks in design. The study aimed to identify priorities and the scope of the application of sketching, particularly its digital counterpart, in modern design practices and to evaluate its efficiency and rationality in communication, creative, and presentation tasks. The research employed methods including the analysis of information sources in design theory, examination of the properties of tools for shaping objects in architectural, industrial, and environmental design, as well as structural-system analysis and the generalisation of research findings. It was found that, in design practice, sketching is an effective visualisation tool capable of conveying key design concepts and assumptions through a system of graphic symbols reflecting the author’s style. The speed of capturing an image, the freedom of modelling, and the naturalness of image creation inherent in sketching determine its rational use in creative processes and in the modelling of design forms. It was also found that digital sketching has expanded functionality: it simplifies geometric construction, supports the integration of 3D and CAD models, and provides extensive possibilities for colour and texture variation and for the transformation of graphic elements. Based on the analysis of sketching software, priorities have been identified regarding the use of digital sketches in representational visualisation tasks. Their arsenal of form-shaping resources and potential productivity has been outlined both at the stage of creative idea generation and at the stage of modelling morphological, colour-textural, constructive, and functional properties of designed objects. Prospects for synthesising digital technologies with hand-drawn graphics in the form-making process were considered. The practical significance of the results lies in the potential application of theoretical principles in artistic design practice, their integration into the educational process for art and design specialisations, and further studies in art history, cultural studies, architecture, and design
project visualisation; graphic modelling; visual communication; artistic shaping; design process