I use graph paper and colored pencils. I also use notebooks that I bought 5 years ago on sale for 10 cents each. I bought 20 so they are lasting a while LOL.
Now I have room for a design wall, but I prefer to lay things out on the floor. Maybe I'm just used to doing it that way.
I have used the digital camera some, but not much. Yes, they are great!!!!!!!!!!!
I would love to have design software, it is still too expensive.
Rosa

I just start from something I've seen that I like. I choose colors and prints that I want to use and I start making blocks. I probably end up with a third as many blocks that don't really read like I'd like them to that end up in my UFO drawer.

I also spend about half as much time as I spend sewing ripping. I HATE ripping!

I wish I had design software too. For me the prob is that EQ doesn't run on Macs. Neither do any of the customized garment pattern software. Makes me certifiably NUTZ cause I desperately need that garment altering utility -- I'm not the size of any living human being and I've got yards and yards of the really fine batiks that I bought to make shirts just 'cause they're so silky I want to feel them next to my skin.

One day I will probablly have to break down and buy a cheap PC. I'm sure the ability to load in fabrics and blocks and manipulate them all day without having to actually sew would be very freeing and create a lot of new design possibilities.

I don't do a whole lot of designing from scratch, but I modify existing patterns a lot. I use EQ6 as much as I can, but sometimes it's just a sketch and some notes on scratch paper.

I don't use my "design wall" that much. Lately it's been used for planning block placement for charity quilts. The block makers send them to me and I assemble them into tops.

Donna

This is interesting--I'm just lost without my design wall. I used to have three on-going quilt projects pinned to it at a time. It helps me figure out block placement and then keep it correct while I assemble the quilt. The floor is okay, but sooo dusty! Dust is a big problem here in Galveston and I just hate having my quilt top on the floor.

Listen. I don't know that this is right for anyone but me, but I have a big expanse of white felt. When I really want to see something on the wall and be able to move it around, I haul it out and "nail" it to a wall in a hall with straight pins and a tack hammer.

The holes made by the pins are just about invisible and the pins do a fine job of stretching the felt out flat. When I'm done I can take it down and I'd defy anyone to see where it was. The pins go in drywall just fine and come out just by pulling on the tops (use round headed ones).

I use my design wall almost exclusively. I put up as much of the quilt as I can, pinning if necessary, then I turn my back, take off my glasses and walk about 8 feet away, turn around and sometimes I squint to get a good feel of the lights and darks. Works every time!

(I wish I had room for another BIGGER design wall, but the hall is about the only space and it's too dark there, and I can't stand back several feet to view the design.)

When we got our new house the first thing I did was put in a design wall. It has been so helpful in sorting out colors and such. It is also good for trying out border fabrics from my stash.

Another thing I like to use is the wrong end of binoculars. It helps me to see if colors "lead" to the other. This is mainly for watercolor-style quilts.

I also design using freezer paper or graph paper. I have thought about the EQ6 software, but I am not sure I would really use it.

I do lots of my own designing and am often sitting with a clipboard and graph paper in my lap. I even carry around small notebooks with 1/4" grids on them. But I do sort blocks out on my design wall so I can stare at them awhile. I also do a digital photo of what's on the design wall to keep on the clipboard to refer to.

My design wall is a plastic table cloth with flannel backing turned over. I have large grommets across the top and shower curtain hooks in them that hook over a drapery rod. It's easy to take down or move.

I have EQ6 but haven't gotten into it yet. I'm an old CAD designer so that software looks like it should be easy. It won't run on my laptop which is Linux. So it's not handy unless sitting at a desk and I have retired from sitting at a desk!

Strange - I seem to always go back to my pencil and crayons!

Yes. That's really the issue with halls -- you can't get far enough away to really see to advantage unless it's a spot where two halls intersect. Still, you can leave things up for weeks at a time in a hallway.

And when you can't get far enough back, that's where the digital camera comes in handy again.

Imrainy, You could also use your old sewing machine needles instead of the pins.They're a little stronger,but you can't see the marks either,at least i can't,and so far no one has asked to inspect my walls.LOL

I also have a large piece of felt ,and also have and use flannel backed tablecloths i picked up at big lots.
Kathi

I think I got this idea here. I bought about 2 or 3 yards of vinyl with a really nice fleecey back at Joann's with a coupon. I had a large mailing tube saved to duct tape the end to but the clerk offered me a leftover tube that was the same size as the one it was on. So I've duct taped it and rolled it up. It's the right size to unroll on our bed which is close to my sewing space. When I go to our family cottage, I can take it with me. I haven't actually used it yet because I haven't sewn much lately but I am looking forward to trying it out.
lots2do
PS I use paper and markers or such to plan things out.

I really don't do much designing but I lay out my blocks on a large pc. of fleece ( about the size of a lap quilt) which I have clamped to an old wooden cloths dry/rack. the fleece is larger then the rack so I strecth it over my stash shelves. It works fine until the quilt gets too big.
When I lay out a pattern I used graft paper and I have used my EQ 4. Thats a bit out of date but helps for basic layouts.
I do have a small 3'x4' pc. of insulation board that I covered with flannel that I used to use to audition blocks.
Jayne

I have a kitchen island that fits 12 12" blocks in perfect 3-across, 4-down formation. I play with the layout till I think I have it, then I call in the expert.

My husband, for all his lack of interest in things domestic, has a perfect eye for design. Who'd of thought a disc jockey would be hiding an always-on-target design sense. Go figure.

His choices/suggestions, even the small ones, always improve the finished look of my projects.

Well, I have a design floor (after I vacuum!) and I lay out my blocks/tops there, and then to get perspective, I move a chair to the far end of the room and stand on it and squint at me design floor. I do run into problems with foot traffic since my design area sits right in the cross path to either the kitchen or the bathroom, but most of the time my family respects my process and does their best to tip-toe around the outside edge - that is except for Elliot who tends to plunk himself down smack dab in the middle if I am not diligent in pushing him to the side. He is most persistent in the early evening, and usually either incredibly lovey or rambunctious and can cause quite a disturbance in my layout. He especially likes when he can get under a top and act like a submarine! When I am at a loss after standing on my chair squinting at the floor, I've started to call in my 'perfect eye for design' - my teen DD. She has a different sense for color than I do, and although I don't agree with all her suggestions, she does see things that end up be really great and outside of how my thought process normally works.
Karlene

Here is a link that might be useful:

LOL-Elliot looks like a demon kitty in that shot!

Diane, my husband is the same way-fabulous eye for color and design. People have commented on my creative border choices and sometimes it's because of DH (insert sheepish look icon here)

It does make Elliot look pretty bad - but he really is just noisy and just as that picture was snapped he had to get his two cents in!