The Challenges of Learning New Software
Whether you’re starting architecture and trying to get to grips with Adobe programs, or transitioning from hand-drawn drawings to CAD software and 3D modelling, learning software is an important skill you’ll need from the beginning of your studies.
In this week’s post, we will be bringing light to some of the challenges of learning new software and touch on practical methods to use in order to overcome them.
Not knowing where to start
The nature of architecture school is that you get thrown into the deep end by having to acquire skills you might never have touched on before. This includes digital skills. As most of us transition from sixth-form, college or high school to university, our first steps into the world of complex software are vaguely guided, and a lot of what we learn about CAD programs, rendering and post-production start as a shot in the dark. When you’re at the stage of learning where you don’t have a clue what to do, it can be challenging because you don’t even know where to begin. The freedom of being unrestricted in terms of what software you can use can send you into a frenzy as you try to even decide which 3D modelling software or CAD program is better over another. So, here are some pointers that can guide you in making that first step to getting started with learning new software.
Firstly, familiarise yourself with the interface if you know what program you’ve chosen to learn. Specifically, this means spending some time exploring the workspace you’ll be using, menu bars and panels. This doesn’t have to be a long process, spend no more than 10 minutes browsing around the workspace just so you have a rough idea of where to find a couple of basic features and tools that might come in handy.
Next, you’re going to want to find focused tutorials that you can use to pick up the software at a pace that you can still keep up with your workload. This will be discussed later on in the post, but as a quick rule of thumb, try and opt for outcome-based tutorials rather than mastering a bunch of tools that you’re not sure how to apply to your work if you’re learning within a short time limit or during the academic year. Otherwise, if you’re dedicating some time between semesters or during your break to work on your digital skills, this would be a better time to do some more in-depth exploration of the software you want to learn.
In terms of where to find tutorials, I find that these resources are a good starting point. Start with the beginner software tutorials designed by the developers of the program (e.g. tutorials created by Adobe for Photoshop, McNeel for Rhino etc.). These often give you a good balance between being introduced to new tools, and simple ways to apply them to outputs like an image or other type of graphic which isn’t too time-consuming. They also tend to be structured in a way that allows you to naturally progress through the different levels of difficulty each feature comes with, so a lack of prior knowledge doesn’t hold you back from completing the tutorial.
The next resource I would recommend is YouTube. Whilst this is a well-known, “go-to” platform for learning anything new, it can be overwhelming to search for tutorials when you don’t know what you’re looking for. You don’t want to be sifting through videos that aren’t aimed at your skill level, or walk-throughs on deliverables that you realise halfway through require five other programs you don’t have the storage or educational access to produce your desired outcome. Therefore, it’s useful to know a bit about the program and what you specifically want to achieve before searching through endless content that might not be what you need.
One effective way to do this is by looking through tutorials specifically from architecture content creators (students and/or professionals). Chances are their tutorials are probably produced from the perspective of someone who has been through architecture school, and knows the kind of representation and standards that students need to execute their projects. For specific examples of content creators that we’d personally suggest you’d check out (along with other useful platforms for learning software), have a read of our resources post.
Finding the time to learn
The design studio is intense as it is, let alone all the other modules you have to do alongside what seems to be your never-ending projects and trying to keep on top of your personal life and basic needs. Learning software requires time, which we never feel like we have. You need to decide what you want to learn, find the resources to learn it, go through the tutorial and leave buffer time to make mistakes before you even start to apply your knowledge to your work. Deadlines creep up on you left, right and centre, so where do you find this so-called ‘spare time’ to improve your digital skills? Maybe it’s not about finding time but making time. In some cases, you won’t even be able to make time due to deadlines which is why it’s extremely important to pick out moments in the year and if you can find the motivation, perhaps even before the academic year begins to work on your digital skills.
So, how do you go about scheduling time to learn a new program? Well, the first thing you need to define is how you learn best. Define how long you can focus, what factors increase information retention for you, and what kind of scheduling technique will be most effective for you in the long run.
These factors will indicate whether or not you take the “little and often” approach (scheduling short sessions regularly, for example, every week, to work on a programme of spaced-out tutorials) or the “batching” approach (dedicating a longer period less often e.g. half a day or a full day to immersing yourself in particular software). There are benefits to both strategies, and different people benefit from both types of learning. Just make sure you bear in mind that you need to manage your energy levels and well-being just as much as your workload. If you’re going full-blaze with the software learning during your rest days or semester breaks, you might be hindering your general productivity outside of these learning sessions. So, get into the habit of assessing now and then whether your current learning routine is working or if you need to switch up the way you’re studying as an architecture student, including your approach to learning software. Defining a learning strategy is hard, so don’t beat yourself up if you don’t get the right approach the first time around.
University workshops aren’t helpful :(
Navigating digital skills without making students reliant on particular software for skill sets they should have regardless of how much software they know is tricky. But the reality is that a lot of firms want a certain proficiency from their architectural assistants in different software, and university alone doesn’t always sufficiently prepare you for that. Yes, we’ve voiced our concerns about the university’s responsibility to prepare us for the digital side of the architecture industry, and yes, they have responded by introducing a digital skills module where we have to attend and produce deliverables in a few programs. You go through a few 9am lectures on Vectorworks or Photoshop, and you realise you’re not much more confident in the software halfway through the module than you were before you started. However, from our first-year experience, we felt that lecture-style digital skills workshops weren’t effective in teaching us what we needed to know to produce certain representations, so we ended up taking it upon ourselves to further our knowledge and find our own answers on how to produce floor plans, collages and 3D models.
This brings us to the question, where do you go when you feel that your university is lacking in the realm of supporting the development of digital skills as an architecture student?
Your best, most accessible bet is probably to scrounge for the tech gurus in your studio or older students who are around. If you’re lucky enough to be in a cooperative, open learning environment and feel comfortable around your studio mates, don’t be afraid to ask them for tips, tricks and hacks on how to use certain programs. Everyone has different strengths and weaknesses, and you’d be surprised to know just how much time you can save simply by asking someone who is more experienced in the realm of software compared to looking for solutions yourself.
Once again, content creators are a great resource when it comes to just the general survival of architecture schools. However, student-friendly tutorials aren’t the only value they bring to the table. As a lot of our tutors either come from a less technology-friendly generation or were taught by such tutors themselves in their time at architecture school, it’s a common dilemma for students to be faced with the burden of taking their digital skills development into their own hands, left to their own devices to get to grips with CAD programs and rendering software. Learning from the experiences of former and other current architecture students who overcame the struggles of developing digital skills can help you avoid the same mistakes in your own education. Look out for what other students regret when learning new software, or advice/tips they discovered a tad too late for their liking that they’re sharing so that you don’t have to make the same mistakes they made when they were in your position.
A more direct approach to responding to unhelpful university workshops would be to use your voice and address these issues with your course representatives, professors and module leaders. Ultimately, your tutors need to be aware of how effective their teaching approach is, especially in such a vital area of architecture like digital skills which we need to obtain before graduating. Take advantage of surveys and feedback forms, and specify what works and what doesn’t during these learning periods. For example, when we were in first year, one of the issues we faced was that the deliverables for our digital skills module didn’t align with what we needed for design studio. We were being introduced to site mapping after starting the design process for our first project, meaning that sometimes we felt that it wasn’t in our best interest to prioritise keeping up with these sessions because it would hold us back from completing our design projects. Unfortunately, it’s unlikely that major changes to your digital skills modules will take place in time for you to benefit from them, but even the smallest tweaks can make a difference to how much you retain from digital skills learning, such as recording lectures so you can catch up in your own time.
Balancing deliverables and increasing your proficiency
So, we’ve established that learning software is time-consuming, and we’ve accepted the reality that we have to put time aside during our studies to build on those skills. But how do we get the balance right between keeping up with the immense workload that we have in architecture school, and focusing on mastering the tools and workflows in certain programs that make us more efficient designers? Tutors are constantly demanding redos of technical drawings, models repeatedly call for numerous iterations and the act of delivering these to a high standard with care and rigour takes its own batch of time in itself. You skip one day of learning software to get that drawing done for your next tutorial, you spend the next finishing a set of concept models and before you know it, you’ve fallen off track with your digital skills learning. As much as it would be great to just have a few days to ourselves where we could go through a bunch of tutorials and solely focus on learning all the Photoshop tools or Rhino features you want to use, unfortunately, we have a whole load of other things in architecture school to manage and keep on top which means our digital skills learning has to be focused and efficient.
One thing to understand about learning software is that it’s a marathon, not a sprint. The time you spend on walk-throughs and tutorials doesn’t directly correspond to getting better grades. This makes it easy to brush aside digital skills development and work on it later when you have the time, because it doesn’t seem beneficial to prioritise it over competing for work for design studio, preparing your presentation boards for your next crit or your upcoming technical studies submission that you were putting off to catch up on other work. However, despite the pressure of wanting to be prepared when looking for jobs that will more often than not expect some proficiency in certain software, or wanting to produce beautiful visuals for your design portfolio, learning new software doesn’t have to take over your studies.
A simple way to save time on digital skills is to use what you need for your modules to guide the tutorials you look for to pick up the software. Want to learn how to render? Use the 3D model you started. Learning to CAD-draw your plans and sections for the first time? Use your schematic design, not the ad-hoc example from that YouTube video you found. Essentially, you’re killing two birds with one stone by getting your work done and enhancing your digital skills in one working session.
It’s also important to remember that not every feature of the programs you use is essential to get your work done in architecture school. You can use certain software for years and still find new ways of producing your work or even never have to touch some of the tools incorporated into the program. Treat your digital skills learning like a reading list. Just learn enough skills to carry you through what you need to produce from the start to the end of your project. With every new proposal you work on, you will find better ways of styling your sections, rendering atmospheric views and modelling parts of your building.
Practice makes perfect
As you can probably tell, you’re not going to learn the ins and outs of a program overnight. You might have heard that controversial statistic that says it takes 10,000 hours to master a skill. Whilst the technicalities of this has been disputed and debated, there’s a truth that definitely rings behind this principle. The only way you’re going to get better at software is by practising, and constantly applying your knowledge to your work in creative ways. However, you have to bear in mind that digital programs are always coming out with new versions, releases, and updates, and the next best software is always coming out too. The truth is, you’re probably always going to need to be in the habit of learning new software because there’s no “one size fits all” program out there that does everything an architect needs. Each one has its own strengths and weaknesses, so don’t feel pressured to become a master of every program before you get your architecture degree. You’ll probably discover new programs throughout different stages of your career, and with the introduction of scripting, parametric design and even AI in the industry, the relationship between us as architects and the digital tools we use to design spaces is also likely to shift in the near future.
The true challenge here isn’t the intricacies of learning each new program you come across, but being adaptable enough to new ways of working with the intention of constantly striving to design better spaces around us; software is simply a tool that facilitates this.
This post is a bit of a long one, but we hope we were able to empathise with you all as we understand the struggles of trying to learn new software in architecture school, and that the tips we offered will help you in your own journeys trying to navigate developing your digital skills.
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See you next Friday for another blog post!
