My point exactly. Design covers everything from drawing, to composition, to typesetting, to layout of raster graphics like photos, etc, etc. This is why it seems more of a design program than a drawing program to me.
Super broad definition of design and super thin definition of draw. 😉
Not really. When one takes a degree in Graphic Design, for example, one utilises a myriad of tools and many disciplines to achieve the end result. That's why it's a degree and not just a class. :)
Conversely, one can take a drawing class, but no one I know of offers a degree in drawing. :)
When I think of design, I think of "intentional, introspective, calculated creation of structure". Am I designing code or am I writing code? One is more expectant that the result /will/ do something exactly and the other is experimental, more 'freehand' as if I'm not exactly sure, but maybe if I do this it'll work.
Okay... though I still maintain that we should shoot for saying the best of what Inkscape does rather than limiting it to something without intention, or introspective. Drawing does have sort of a crayons and pencils sound to it. I guess it depends on the audience. A design tool has more innate trust for professional use than a drawing tool, by virtue of design as the entire tool set rather than one function of the set.
Sure, I guess drawing sounds more friendly and easy-going. Design will always have more of a professional sound to it because of exactly the "intentional, introspective, calculated creation of structure" thing you mentioned.
I guess it's playtime vs. professional work time. There is some overlap, and certainly some argument for both. It's mainly who our target market is, and what they would expect of a drawing program vs. a design program.
-C
That's pretty much where I see drawing. The visual version of writing. When you ink, you may not know for sure why a line that's shaped like that works as a nose. So I can't claim to have designed the nose shape, I just don't know enough about nose shapes to explain the outcome.
But I can draw the nose shape, maybe even iterate over it, until some unknown internal process says "yep, that looks like a nose" and I can move on to those funny ear shapes next.
Inkscape is very good as iteration and re-use. But that's not what the core of design is to me. (and I might be wrong)
Best Regards, Martin Owens