Hi Josie! By design/drafting are you referring to making mechanical drawings of parts/structures or design/drafting in the artistic sense? In the first case, I would say design/drafting is related to engineering; however, the engineering design process is much more involved. All engineering disciplines will involve some aspects of design. First, there are many kinds of engineering such as electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, civil engineering, and biomedical engineering. For example, electrical engineers may design circuits which may involve drawing of the circuit on a computer. Civil engineers may design buildings. Design is a big part, and in order to do it correctly we need to apply the mathematical and scientific concepts that we learn. For example, for a mechanical engineer to design a part or a system, he/she needs to determine the material strength, system safety, etc. Once the design is created, the engineer may send it to a drafter who then creates a mechanical drawing which a machinist can use as a reference when building the part. I would suggest visiting some universities in your area to learn more about engineering. I don't know much about design/drafting companies in Southern California unfortunately. Hope this helps! -Nim