Tool of the Trade

I often wonder how long it takes for a person that creates an extremely good piece of work to get it done. I know it depends on a lot of factors but the biggest one I think is the tools that you use. I personally know of some graphic design people, that use a mouse for all of their design work. Gasp, I know, I know … how can one, hours on end, use a mouse to draw and design with. Well if you don’t know anything else or haven’t realized the investment of a tablet, then you could be making this mistake.
An analogy of this would be like a marathon runner making the distance in a pair of dress shoes instead of properly fitted running shoes. Sure, the runner would probably finish the race, but in what place and condition? The control and precision of a pen verses a mouse is not even close. Tablets allow the pen to navigate with just a touch of the pen tip to the tablet surface offering hundreds of pressure levels of sensitivity. These levels can correspond dynamically to adjust exposure, brush size, line weight, and opacity. And each point on the tablet maps to a corresponding place on screen, making it easy to move your cursor. Newer tablets even allow gestures you can use with your hands.
Not only do we have those features that tablets offer, the tools of your program can be easily selected by designating buttons on the tablet to select which tools you want to use. No more reaching across to the tool palette to select a tool. Just a touch of a button to the tablet and time is saved.
A tablet not only has all the normal functions of a mouse such as navigation and selection, but also provides ergonomic relief. There are several models and types to choose from varying from size to wired to wireless. And if you haven’t experienced the use of a tablet in your everyday design work you owe it to yourself to investigate not whether you need a tablet but which one you want to use.