Computer tool has changed the behavior of design, and explore the issues of computer aided conceptual design. Designers’ sketching and thinking have been changed in accordance with different design tools in the conceptual stage. This study explores and analyzes the comparison between designers’ sketching in traditional and digital tools. The aims are: 1.Comparing the differences of novice and expert designers’ sketching with traditional and digital tools and finding some characteristics to decompose sketching; 2.Proposing a method on analyzing the interactive communication process (seeing-moving-seeing); 3.Detecting the similarities as well as differences on conceptual process and its outcomes; 4.Proposing a technique that consists of qualitative and quantitative analysis to record designers’ sketching and identify 2 dimensions and 6 characteristics. Results show that traditional tool has advantages over the digital tool, such as more number of sketches generated, higher originality of sketches, excellent fluency of design thinking, an ideal approach for concept generation adapted, etc. This study provides an expert’s approach for concept generation in order to make it a learning motivation for novices to upgrade to expert designers and a reference for design education. Both experts and novices have stated that visualization of computer tools would not exert an apparent compact on design evaluation and application. With traditional tool, however, it would be easier for them not only to express their ideation, but also to observe the sketches with judgment. Finally, computer tools can never replace traditional tool in the way that the latter can influence people physiologically through their tactility.
