Back in 2001, when I got into the top design school in India , Industrial Design Centre (IDC) IIT BOMBAY for my
masters course in product design, people around me hardly understood what
exactly I will be doing there and afterwards. I used to enthusiastically explain
them role of a product designer. Now in 2017 when I tell people that I am a
product designer, I can still notice a BIG question mark on their face
'What exactly is product design ???'.
Some of them care to ask more while some just say okay.
'What exactly is product design ???'.
Some of them care to ask more while some just say okay.
One more incident I would like to share. Few years ago when
I was visiting my Sister, her domestic help asked me, “Didi aap kya karate ho?”
(What do you do?) When I replied that I am a product designer. She said, “Oh,
Kapda banate ho?”(Oh, you make clothes) Design is so much synonymous with
Fashion. In our society design is either Fashion or graphic or architecture.
I think, we product designers deal with designing wide range
of products used in our day to day life, but we have failed to create awareness
in the society about what is our role. What do we do when we say that we design
products?
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| My First Design in Market 12 years ago (Godrej Washing Machine) |
They are concerned about what would be the scope in future?
Better late than never, here I am using this platform to
connect with more people in our society sharing some of my experiences about my
profession and ‘Design’ in general. I will be happy to answer your queries
regarding ‘Design’. I feel Design is making changes in things around to make
world a better place. Like an architect designs a building as per need of the
client, available construction technology, climate of the site, budget etc;
product designer designs the product keeping in mind the end user, ease of use
and maintenance, available manufacturing processes and materials, budget etc.
The design process is almost similar. The most important tool that designers
use is ‘Visualisation’.
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| Concept Sketching basic of Visualisation technique |
While architecture firms design different spaces like
residential, commercial or public spaces; product design consultancy can offer
services for wide variety of products right from consumer products to huge
industrial equipments. During my industry experience I got opportunity to work
on small products like soaps, packaging for shampoo, medicines to medical
equipments like patient monitor, dental x ray machine. Many companies have
their in-house design department, where a team of designers is dedicated to
constantly improve user experience of their product range.
The design team is
involved since inception of the product like deciding requirements of the
product till the actual manufacturing of the product begins. There are many
stages involved during the whole process which I would be talking about in
detail later on. During the whole process the design team needs to interact
with many other teams like end user, marketing team, engineering team, model
making team, manufacturing team etc.
Very good explanation about product designer's work and role. Will really help to those who wish to take education and pursue career in product designing.Keep writing and informing us about this field...
ReplyDeleteVery we’ll written:)
ReplyDeleteSo well explained...simple, to-the-point and clearly expressed..
ReplyDeleteGrt infoš
ReplyDeleteVery informative article. Also generated further curiosity to know more about product designer. Thanks! :)
ReplyDeleteVery well explained. A good step to cultivate the design.
ReplyDelete