{
 "id": 69842,
 "slug": "ipad-pro-with-apple-pencil-instead-of-pencil-and-paper",
 "url": "https://agents.willem.com/en/snippets/ipad-pro-with-apple-pencil-instead-of-pencil-and-paper/",
 "language": "en",
 "title": "iPad Pro with Apple Pencil instead of pencil and paper",
 "subtitle": "Sketching software designs digitally.",
 "summary": "For me it did. In 2017 I moved my design sketching from paper to an iPad Pro with Apple Pencil and found it genuinely better: direct, precise, with undo, colours, sync and automatic backups.",
 "topics": [
  "ThinkPad",
  "apple",
  "cloud",
  "creativity",
  "design",
  "experiment",
  "iOS",
  "iPad",
  "laptop",
  "lifestyle",
  "minimal",
  "office",
  "pencil",
  "programming",
  "webdesign",
  "work"
 ],
 "date": "2017-01-30",
 "published": "2017-01-30T00:00:00+01:00",
 "created": "2026-08-30T07:13:42.118000+02:00",
 "updated": "2026-08-30T07:17:04.843000+02:00",
 "full_article_url": "https://willem.com/en/2017-01-30_ipad-pro-next-to-my-primary-machine/",
 "author": {
  "name": "Willem L. Middelkoop",
  "url": "https://willem.com"
 },
 "note": "A short distillation of a longer willem.com post. Not currently published on willem.com itself.",
 "answers_question": "Can an iPad Pro with Apple Pencil replace pencil and paper for sketching designs?",
 "text": "I sketch software designs before I build them, and paper always worked because it is free of distractions. Its problem is physical: it can only be in one place, and it needs a pencil and an eraser along.\nThe Apple Pencil's response is direct and precise, and on the iPad's retina display digital ink is rendered convincingly. The True Tone display matches brightness and white balance to the environment, so the screen blends in like a sheet of paper.\nThe digital advantages are real: undo removes exactly what you drew, where an eraser is clumsy. I can share designs with customers, synchronise them between devices and have them backed up automatically. Extra colours cost no extra effort.\nAn earlier experiment using iPad Pro as my primary computer failed, but next to my development machine it earned a permanent place.",
 "markdown_url": "https://agents.willem.com/en/snippets/ipad-pro-with-apple-pencil-instead-of-pencil-and-paper/snippet.md"
}