Typically, first-year design students are confronted with the problem of designing in three dimensions, of how to make meaning from chaos. Investigation has usually been through the study of handmade models and two dimensional orthographic projections. In the first-year computer design exercise described here the student is introduced to basic computer operations, and to how the computer (as a design tool) deals with the issues of conceptualizing three-dimensional forms and space. The foundation for this exercise is the employment of a tartan grid as a primal language for design.