Set Design: A Beginner’s Guide

Are you interested in a career in set design or simply interested in learning about how set designers bring your favorite plays to life? This article has you covered.

Firstly, creating a memorable production starts with a solid understanding of set design fundamentals and the right tools to bring them to life.

Set design is the art of creating visual, often physical, elements that establish the world of a production. While typically associated with theater, it also encompasses film, television, and live events.

Key elements of this design process include sets, which are the main physical structures or elements on stage, props that actors use to enhance the narrative, and backdrops, painted or printed elements that define the setting or mood.

Set design goes beyond creating beautiful visuals. It encompasses research into historical timelines or visual aesthetics relevant to the production, adapting designs to fit the dimensions and features of the performance space, and managing budgets to balance creativity with financial realities.

Most set designers start their careers in theatre and often work freelance or for small production companies. Theatre set design is a very multidisciplinary field. Set designers collaborate closely with directors, lighting designers, costume designers, sound designers, and stage managers to deliver a cohesive vision. Their ultimate goal is to create an environment that enhances the narrative, supports the mood, and communicates essential themes to the audience.

Significant responsibilities include:

Conceptualizing the Set

At the beginning of a production, the set designer meets with the director to discuss artistic vision, tone, and style. They often study the script in depth, noting time periods, locations, and thematic elements that influence their design.

Creating Design Sketches and Models

Designers produce sketches, digital renderings, or three-dimensional models to visualize their ideas. These tools help the director and production team understand the design and suggest adjustments before construction begins.

Selecting Materials and Construction Plans

Once the design is approved, the set designer works with technical directors, carpenters, and painters to choose appropriate building materials within budget.

Ensuring Practicality and Flexibility

Beyond aesthetics, the designer must consider movement, costume changes, prop placement, and special effects. For example, a set might need hidden entrances, rotating platforms, or collapsible structures to facilitate quick scene changes.

Overseeing Implementation

The set designer supervises construction throughout the building process, adjusts details as needed, and ensures the design translates from concept to physical form. They remain involved through rehearsals, making refinements to suit the needs of actors and directors.

There are many steps to creating a set design. This is not an exhaustive list, but here are common steps used in a theatrical set design:

Know the Script

Set design begins with the story. An effective set designer is well-versed in the production’s script, its themes, and the vision of the writers, director, and producers. The set’s goal is to serve the production’s story; and, it’s often the first element of the narrative that an audience will notice.

Evaluate Existing Resources and Available Space

A venue’s size and shape are also important details for set designers to contemplate. The space will define important factors like sightlines and access routes for set and scenic elements, performers, and the public.

Initial Sketches

Next, a set designer begins initial concepts and sketches. These sketches serve as the foundation for developing ground plans, which are diagrams showing an overhead view of the physical layout of a set, especially the placement of on-stage structures.

Creating a 3D White Model

Once the ground plan is established, a set designer can move on to three-dimensional, white model rendering.  These colorless renderings help others comprehend the essential components of a design and its implementation early in the design process. Directors, producers, and team members will be able to see what shapes the set designer is using and the depths and thickness of all the elements, saving everyone time by being on the same page.

Technical components are also crucial to the set design process. Set designs are often created in ½-inch or ¼-inch scales, with specific line weights and styles to communicate different aspects of the design, such as dashed lines for overhead openings and centerline marks. Walls are depicted as parallel lines filled with hatch marks, while doors include indicators for their swing directions to clarify functionality.

Consider Sightlines

Sightlines are carefully analyzed using ground plans and sectional studies, optimizing the audience’s visual accessibility of the set from various views.

Check Access

Checking access is about more than just making sure that emergency exit routes are clear and that there's enough space for performers and the public. It also involves whether there's enough space to assemble a design, how crew members access equipment inside the elements for maintenance, and, if the design includes moving parts or automation, that there's enough space for this to happen safely.

Set Assembly

How a set designer plans to build a design can have a huge impact on it. For example, is it going to use internal framing, will it be comprised of simple scenic flats, or can existing standard equipment be used to support it?

Modeling the underlying structure of set elements will help prepare construction diagrams to work from, enabling designers to work out material requirements and related costs.

If you’re interested in becoming a set designer, college courses and even webinars are a great way to dive deeper into the field and gain in-depth instruction. Universities offer extensive programs, and unions such as IATSE provide education and training that will help you learn more about the design discipline. 

Learning the tools for set design is as important as understanding the concepts that make an unforgettable production.

Vectorworks University provides professional certifications, expert-led webinars, and even courses like “Vectorworks for Set Designers” to hone your skills.

“Vectorworks for Set Designers” will guide you through the workflow of creating a set design using Vectorworks Spotlight. You’ll find an example of a play staged in a traditional proscenium theater, and you’ll begin with the initial conceptual design and progress through building a white model, eventually adding color, textures, and detail.

Vectorworks is a powerful tool that enhances every stage of the set design process.

Drafting Tools

Many of the tools in Vectorworks Spotlight’s architectural workspace can be used to create walls, doors, windows, and stairs for set designs. These customizable tools provide out-of-the-box drafting and presentation styles, saving time when drafting standard details.

For more on managing your workspace for a more efficient drafting process, click here.

Symbol Library

Vectorworks’ robust symbol library offers pre-made, data-rich furniture and other set elements from world-renowned brands and manufacturers. Vectorworks’ symbol libraries are accessed through the Resource Manager to save time and improve presentation details.

Organization

Classes and Layers in Vectorworks Spotlight manage complex designs efficiently, such as creating a venue layer or classifying different scenes for furniture placement.

Furthermore, Vectorworks Spotlight’s data-driven features like data visualization, custom records, project sharing, referencing, annotations, labels, and more help manage all aspects of a set design production.

3D Modeling and Rendering

Moving from the previously mentioned white models to textured, fully rendered visuals provides a realistic preview of the set.

For 3D modeling, Vectorworks’ hybrid drawing environment and intuitive tools and commands, such as Subtract Solids, Subdivision modeling, the Push/Pull tool, the Deform tool, and more, can be used to seamlessly transition your 2D drawings to rich 3D models.

Similarly, there’s a suite of rendering options in Vectorworks Spotlight. Renderworks and its Shaded render mode are built right into Vectorworks, and you have access to rendering options from the likes of Twinmotion, Enscape, Lumion, and D5.

If you haven’t already, your next step in creating stunning set designs is making the switch to Vectorworks Spotlight. As the industry standard for entertainment design, Vectorworks Spotlight gives you all the tools you need to bring your scenic creations to life.

In this free webinar, you’ll discover how senior set designer Tom Wagman’s workflow has improved since switching from Sketchup. Now, Wagman performs most of his set design process directly in Vectorworks, enhancing his creative capabilities, streamlining his workflow, and empowering his design process.

Featured image courtesy of Tom Wagman.