Claytime!

Image source : https://cdn.winsightmedia.com/platform/files/public/main/

articles/102012-dinnerware_0.jpg

I had talked about cozy spaces which call us back again and again, especially restaurants. Apart from the comfortable ambiance at such spaces one more element that catches my attention and asks for revisit is the tableware! I am sure same is the case with many of you. Isn’t the form of plates, bowls, salt pepper shakers is so exciting at some food places that you want to go there again just to slurp soup using that exotic spoon and bowl or to hold that gracious glass of your drink! 

Plates, bowls, pots, spoons …mundane objects that we use everyday but ceramic designers play with the form, colour, texture and pattern of these ordinary objects and turn them into jewels on the table. I feel these daily objects (art pieces) give us an opportunity to bring in art in our daily lives.

I remember sharing one trick with my friends to make their tiny tots drink more liquids by offering the drinks in different glass every time. The variety in shape of glass fascinated the engrossed child and wanting to hold it in hands effectively the child ended up consuming liquid inside the glass. I am trying to highlight power of design and aesthetics in our lives, age is no bar!

Though the object is serving a simple function of serving food or light enclosure, making it look charming is as important as the main function. Thus ceramic design and glass design is a perfect blend of functional and visual aspects in a product.

The word ceramic has origin in Greek word ‘Keramik’. Keram means potters clay. Thus ceramic is a term used for objects made out of clay.

Image source : https://cdn.homedit.com/wp-content/uploads/

2015/08/Arbel-Glass-lights-from-Luminaire-Lab.jpg

Clay being part of earth is a sustainable material and is in use since early ages. Clay utensils, jewellery found in archaeological excavations narrates us cultural attributes of those civilisations. Clay has been explored in different regions, cultures with different surface finishes leading to wide variety of products and styles available in ceramics. Glass is also made from natural resource silica, earth component. Clay and silica has enormous potential that led to a specialised branch of study, ceramic Design and glass design.

Designers make objects in clay using various techniques like hand building or wheel throwing and then fire it in kiln. During firing process use of different glazing material give different results. New digital technologies open door for new possibilities in surface finishing.  

Clay pots, kitchen utensils, planters are most noticed forms of ceramic design. But there are many other applications. Sculptures, indoor outdoor art installations in clay amuse us when we come across it in parks or art exhibitions, museums. While taking a stroll in home decor section of departmental stores like home centre, Good Earth hundreds of objects in ceramic and glass calls for our attention. The sanitary ware is part of ceramic design. Floor Tile is another ceramic product. Traditional hand crafted tiles are still in production in many parts of India. Ceramic is also used as industrial material because of its unique insulation properties. In fact it has wide application in building construction in roofing, tiling, ducting etc.

Image source : http://kidsout.ro/evenimente/atelier-de-ceramica-si-

modelaj-lut/

Glass with its transparency adds a different dimension to the objects. Lighting is the most evident usage of glass. But glass too has similar applications like ceramic in tableware, sculptures, art installations, home decor and industrial use.

Clay and Silica are earth materials and that is why I believe that we get connected with ceramic and glass objects so naturally than with any other material. I am sure as a child all of us have played with clay, explored our imagination to create our own fancies. Let’s give similar opportunity to our children too; to connect with earth, clay. Let them craft their imaginations in three dimensions. Let’s be earthy!

Some useful links 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iHHVukDb_kU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pr3_TvgOBE8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qSoVu79aCU0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jldhHLmtsVY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6LZYztCnuQs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=etBM199L0c8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3LEaGYXEvU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09S6NtV55N4

https://www.corning.com/in/en/innovation/the-glass-age/design-and-application/glasslab-all-the-worlds-a-stage-for-designers-and-glassmakers.html

Note:

The writer has no rights on the images used in this article. 

Playtime!

Image source: https://georgiemathew.files.wordpress.com/

2011/09/dsc_6786.jpg

What do you remember when we talk about childhood? Your Playtime! Isn’t it? Childhood is so synonymous with ‘Play’ and Play is incomplete without toys. For any child, toys are his/her valuable treasure. They are so emotionally attached with that piece of wood or fabric or plastic. This is the time when they are learning, growing. Toys thus play an important role in 
child development.

A three months old starts responding to the sound of a rattle and what a joy it brings in for the parents! Well designed toys help babies to achieve their growth milestones in more pleasurable and engaging way. Pull string toy, holding and playing with a doll, playing with clay helps in motor skills development. Role plays and interacting with other children of same age group while playing help children build their emotional and social skills. Building blocks, puzzle games, board games help in development of cognitive and creative abilities. Toys and games provide opportunities for children of all age groups to grow and develop their skills on different levels in an interesting manner.

DIY toy using card board

Traditionally toys were crafted using child friendly local materials like fabric, wood or clay. Post industrialisation alike other products toys were mass manufactured too. Plastic toys were introduced. Soon ‘Toy and Game’ design became a specialised branch in industrial design. Toy designers study child psychology to understand children and their needs apart from basic knowledge of materials and manufacturing process for mass production. This study gives them insights about what a child needs for his/her age and what they could find interesting to explore.

There is a wide range of toys and games available in the market catering different age groups like dolls, animals, action figures, cars, construction toys, creative toys, education toys, role play kits, electronic toys, science toys, board games etc.The list is long. I feel DIY (Do it yourself) toy kits offer a different pleasure to children as they make their toy themselves. It sows seeds of creativity and innovation in children at young age.

Image source: http://cdn1-www.craveonline.com/assets/uploads/

2017/05/Fidget-Spinner-2.jpg

Toys are so fascinating or rather playtime is so stress relieving that even adults enjoy their playtime. There are corporate toys (executive/office toys) available which are popular for pleasure and creativity during short breaks in working hours. Fidget spinner is a good example of this.
In the age of technology, digital games have become integral part of our lives. More to come in the field of Virtual Reality in gaming. Still the physical toys have their own space in a child’s world and will continue to have.

When the market is flooded with toys, we still have creative parents who provide household things as toys for their children. But certain toys cannot have replacement. Parents and schools have to be wise and sensitive to choose appropriate one for their child’s dream land, after all it’s their Play-land!

Some useful links

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uTgWnY_ZM3c https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3YhqaSiff5g

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2pKbzWVKhPw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KnCqR2yUXoU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UOUxWugaspw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5-7nSPfMpIs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8rkh1wW6BU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38MuobPctMc

Note:

The writer has no rights on the images used in this article. 

Story of narrative spaces!

The space story continues… I talked about how design of spaces creates ambiance for activities that are going to be performed there. A neatly designed cozy reading corner accentuates the joy of reading whereas a well lit, colourful space will encourage children to learn new things in a cheerful way. In case of commercial spaces ‘design’ has to go a step further beyond ‘setting the mood’ to ‘influence’ the user to ‘indulge’ in that commercial activity i. e. buying if it’s a shop or gaining information if it’s an informative exhibition/museum.

Retail spaces are narrating ‘brand story’ to the customers as they are moving around. Along with 'Space Design' designer has to work on ‘Brand Design’ with equal attention. All elements in the space like floor, walls, ceiling are designed to make the ‘brand’ impact. 

Interior of concept store Eka, Bengaluru
Image source:http://retaildesignblog.net/2015/01/13/eka-concept-store-
by-frdc-bangalore-india/

Specialist visual designers called ‘Visual mercendisers’ are hired to design window and interior displays to attract customer’s attention. These displays are visual treat for window shoppers and many a times lead the shopper from only ‘window’ shopping to actually purchasing that item. It is the store ambience which distinguishes a brand from other competitive brands in the same shopping mall. ‘Store ambiance’ is one of the prime factors to influence the shoppers to revisit the place apart from quality and service. It helps in building brand loyalty. Retail space design becomes even more important in the era of convenient e-commerce where the store ambiance has to fetch customers in physical environment.

Apart from actual point of sale, exhibitions and museums are other forms through which a brand is communicating with customers. The designer has to take care that the spaces enveloping the users aid best connection between the product/information displayed and the user. The Digital age equips the designers with new tools and mediums to make exhibition spaces more engaging. At the same time it demands the designer to be updated in his/her skills in digital, graphical, experience design along with space (spatial) design. Earlier exhibitions were mostly in the form of a large trade pavilion divided in smaller stalls dedicated to particular exhibits. But now they are in diverse forms as an event, as a performance or an installation. It offers designers opportunity to explore their creativity.

Exhibitions are temporary while museums are permanent. Exhibitions focus on the products the brand offers whereas museums focus on the philosophy, evolution of that brand. Automotive brand museums like Porsche, BMW, Mercedes Benz are good examples which display brand evolution of the brand. A visit to these places is an enchanting experience.

Museum at T2 Mumbai International airport is visual treat for visitors

Image source:http://im.rediff.com/money/2014/jan/20airport5a.jpg

Other museums serve purpose of cultural institutions. It gives opportunity for people to explore the exhibits in the specified field for learning, inspiration and enjoyment. The spaces in museum make the process of exploration of exhibit interesting or boring. And that is what stands out 'Louvre' art museum, Paris from other art museums. The play in interior spaces adds another dimension to exploration activity.

Another interesting type of space design is stage or set design. Designer has to give ‘feel’ of actual space as per the theme in given ‘limited’ space of theatre stage or film set. Designer uses key elements representing the theme creatively to design the stage or set. Interesting feature in this case is that the audience can experience this space only visually. Lighting design plays important role here.

There are courses available for professional training in retail design, exhibition design and set design. While other specialized interior space design like hospitals, schools, factories, offices etc. one gets to learn by assisting professional designers having gained basic training in interior design, interior architecture design or architecture. 

Some useful links

https://design-milk.com/primary-essentials-one-stop-shop-unique-artisanal-objects/

https://www.designboom.com/project/tata-capital-retail-design/

https://www.designboom.com/architecture/prism-design-office-coastline-runner-camp-retail-shoe-store-gym-facility-07-06-2017/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PHrmoSlfLD0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3P6M42aWo60

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cFGPIXp8qcM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-QHlX7lznw

Note:The writer has no rights on the images used in this article. 

Own little space story!

Travel gives us an opportunity to observe many people. Such people are strangers to us. But by merely observing them we can understand few things about them. Their dressing, body language reveals many details. Similarly residences talk about the people residing in it, workplaces talk about the organisation.

Earlier people had individual residential units. Its layout and design reflected beliefs of the owner family. Now a days with space scarcity people live in apartments. Though the internal layout of apartment blocks is similar, inside space design makes them distinct from each other.

Living room displaying being social nature of owners
Image source  

http://photos.hgtv.com/photo/cozy-family-room-features-two-seating-areas

As we enter a house we can get fair idea about the family living inside, their beliefs and characteristics. The seating arrangement in the living room tells us if the family is introvert or the one indulging in frequent get-togethers. The lighting will tell if the family likes simplicity or ornamentation. Same with the choice of fabric, style of curtains.

Living room displaying introvert nature of owners
Image source  

http://doit-estonia.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Cozy-Living-

Room-Decorating-Ideas-cozy-apartment-living-room.jpg

Back in 1980s people used to make their own interiors. Hiring a professional interior designer was a luxury and an expensive affair. Thus houses used to display characteristics of owner family distinctly. Now things have changed and interior designers are hired by most of the people to make up their spaces, residential or commercial.

In case of residential interiors I have observed at many places that the houses designed by some designers fail to display characteristics of the owner family. All houses designed by that designer look alike. They are exhibiting style of that designer than the individual family. Most of the time the style just follows current trends with minor changes in colour or pattern.

When designer understands needs and personalities of users well, it gets reflected in the design, the space gets flavour of the user family and it sets perfect ambience for the activities to be performed there. This is very important factor in any interior space. The spaces and people using those become complementary to each other if it’s designed well. 

Another important factor is proportions. Proportions are basically the relationship of the elements used in the space with each other and with the room space. Let’s see few examples to understand this better. Sometimes we can just sense that the sofa looks too big in the living space or a chandelier hanging above looks too heavy for the room or the cushions are very tiny. These are nothing but the proportions. Thus size of each furniture piece in the room has to be in relation with the overall size of the space.

Some of you might have heard about the term ‘negative space’. It plays important role in balancing the proportions of the space. Negative space is nothing but the remaining space in your room left after space occupied by furniture pieces. It is the empty space other than solid objects in the room. Our brain perceives any solid object in comparison with the empty space around it. And that is why sofa looks bigger in comparison with the empty space left in the room. Designer has to strike this balance and achieve optimum proportions.

Sometimes people are not aware about these design principles and they insist on few designs to be implemented as it is which they have found interesting at some other place. In such cases, I feel, it is role of the designer to make them understand and convince them that it may not be suitable in their case. As getting interiors done is a big investment in terms of time, efforts and money. Once done it will be used at least for 8 to 10 years.

Thus designing interiors or space design is not only about selecting furniture, lights, colours, fabrics etc but it is a celebration of the interactions between the space and the user and the activities going to be performed in that space. Because every space has its own little story!

Some useful links

https://www.houzz.in/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Os02K3VP8-I

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4Rdf-smeWw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yj_BajUoQls

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yYoF4W6tENE

Note: The writer has no rights on the images used in this article. 

Furnish your space and our earth too!

I am sure each one of you have a cherishing memory of relaxing in a chair with your eyes closed wandering in your own world! This favourite chair of yours could be in your home terrace, at your loving granny’s place or in one of your frequently visited resort. Chair, such a simple product, but not all of them give you the experience that I mentioned in the beginning. What is it that makes that chair special for you? By now you must have guessed it! Bravo, Correct! The ‘Design’. Design of that chair plays an important role in making you feel relaxed and calm. It need not be a rocking or relaxing chair to make you at comfort; it could be a cushioned sofa or a bamboo chair too. It’s the way it has been designed gives you that feeling when you use it; it’s touch, its visual appearance, your posture when you sit in it.

By Marcel Breuer, Year: 1928

Image Source

http://www.vintage-design-point.be/portfolio/6-cesca

-b32-side-chairs-by-marcel-breuer-for-thonet/

By Eero Saarinen, Year: 1955

Image Source: https://www.classicfactory24.com/en/Chairs/

Eero-Saarinen-Tulip-Chair-with-Armrests-Fiberglass.html

I have observed people taking design of furniture for granted; may be because we have been using furniture in our day to day lives and it just goes unnoticed. But as I mentioned earlier simple furniture like chair could be taken to an object of desire through design. Almost every master architect and designer has his/her own famous design of chair.

https://www.gq.com/story/the-12-most-iconic-chairs-of-all-time

Details by Team7 design
Image Source
https://www.team7-design.com/en/

 Though all chairs serve the purpose of a seat, chairs used in different environment have different requirements from each other. A chair used in an office by a person who is working on desktop machine for almost 6 to 8 hours has different demands than a chair used in a restaurant or in a waiting area of a railway station. Designer takes into consideration all these aspects. Furniture designer focuses on how to make it as per human measurements, what materials to be used, what kind of joineries can be worked out, how to assemble etc. Since furniture pieces are not very complex in terms of technological functions like electronic gadgets, the challenge lies in material exploration and the detailing. As perceived by many people good design need not be only about ornamentation; a simple piece of furniture can look beautiful through it’s proportions and detailing.
https://www.team7-design.com/en/

 Traditionally heavy ornamentation was integral part of furniture in India as it was used only by the Royal families. Our Indian lifestyle hardly needed any furnishing in their daily spaces. Most of the actions like cooking, eating, sleeping, sitting etc were done on floor. Storage was in built in the walls. With foreign invasions there was Portuguese, French, Dutch and English influence on the furniture crafted by Indian craftspeople. Also, there was change in the lifestyle of common people and slowly they stared using furniture.

Considering the global scenario, wooden furniture used by common people was less ornamented to save time, efforts and money as it used to be hand crafted. Post industrialisation furniture was mass produced and traditional material wood was replaced by new materials like steel and plastic. The style also became simple with almost no ornamentation. Designers explored new materials and manufacturing technology.

Today, some designers use traditional craft processes in contemporary ways in their furniture to revive the forgotten local heritage.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F1t_AWW5o7w

http://www.designsponge.com/2015/10/ancient-indian-crafts-in-modern-design.html

  

In today’s context space saving, multifunctional furniture is need of the hour. Designers creatively come up with innovative furniture solutions to maximise space usage.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQjBrt9LriY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6UVYO4niGsA

Furniture design is a specialized design course offered in many design universities, sometimes under a branch of industrial design discipline. I feel the challenge for designers today is to design furniture to aid our earlier ‘frugal’ Indian lifestyle to make it more sustainable!

Some links which you may find intersting. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ziGSnavgO1A

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dFo7fqkLt7M

Note:

The writer has no rights on the images used in this article. 

Vroom Vroom Vroom.... !!!

© image 1  All rights reserved

Travel is an inseparable part of our lives and so are the vehicles. Invention of the wheel was one of the most influencing inventions in the history! It added new dimension to the transport. Motorised (Auto) vehicles reduced the time taken for travel considerably. We are witnessing incredible technological innovations in all type of transportation; land, water and air, both for personal and public use.

I have grown up seeing almost 90% of male population around simply being crazy about vehicles, cars and motorbikes especially. It’s performance, speed, comfort and beauty! While performance and speed are taken care by automobile engineers; comfort and beauty is where designers contribute.

In vehicle design, there is broadly two courses available namely automotive design and transportation or mobility design. Many a times it is one of the disciplines offered under Industrial design department. Let’s see the difference between these two. In transportation design course a student deals design of different type of transportation on land, water and air. It could be for public or personal use, whereas automotive design course focuses more on design of land vehicles.

Like product designers, automotive designers too are constantly working to strike the balance between technology and art. Compared to other consumer products vehicles/ cars are very complex. A team of designers is at work in any automotive organisation. The teams are further divided into exterior design, interior design and colour and trim design.

Image source :
https://www.formtrends.com/design-story-porsche-mission-e-concept/ 

As the name suggests exterior designers work on the exterior of the vehicle. They visualise the exterior look of the car on the basic package designed by engineering team as per the design brief considering which market the car is being designed for. Aerodynamic and visually pleasing exterior form of the vehicle is crafted by this team.

The beauty of car is as much as from inside as it is from the outside. Interior designers focus on the interior cabins of the vehicles; the seats, doors, dash board etc. Very minute detail like door handle, storage utility, speedometer graphics, air conditioning vents are designed by them. A team of interaction designers work on the navigation system display, parking assistance etc.

Image source : https://www.mercedes-benz.com/en/mercedes-benz/design/
mercedes-benz-design/models/next-level-interior-design-for-the-future-e-class/

The leather and fabric used inside the cabin for seats and doors are designed by colour and trim design team. The colours for exterior and interior elements are developed by this team in coordination with paint experts to go well with the design theme.

Image source : https://www.wired.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/
ff_chevybolt-making_model.jpg

All teams are working together in coordination with each other and other teams like digital modeling, clay modelling, hard modeling, engineering, marketing, sales etc. The whole process design that is from a sketch on paper to the final tangible car is a lot of hard work!

It is dream of a designer to work on a concept car/vehicle. Concept vehicle is a vehicle which is futuristic design showcased by makers in auto shows to display their design language, technological advances. Future production vehicles are based on such concept vehicles.

Image Source :http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/motor-shows/frankfurt-motor-show/

100920/best-concept-cars-of-the-2017-frankfurt-motor-show

I find myself fortunate for having opportunity to visit international auto shows and car museums. I must admit that India has a long way to go in terms of design, both ways; for designers to raise their bar internationally and for consumers to appreciate vehicle's beauty beyond just cost effectiveness and the mileage.

Useful links

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-t3w5pG81Y

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AbvtRgiedKE

http://daap.uc.edu/academics/design/bs_industrial.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmN_9GWM1RM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hs16qhyWqgI

https://www.formtrends.com/design-story-porsche-mission-e-concept/

Note:

The writer has no rights on the images used here except image 1 in this article. 

Product design or Industrial design???

Iconic products by industrial design team at Apple
Image source :http://edition.cnn.com/2013/06/28/tech/best-design-
100-years-zaccai/index.html

Now that we have seen how design is contributing in different spheres of our lives, let’s dig into these different design disciplines to know what exactly it deals with. This will give us brief idea about how each discipline is different from the other. Ours is the world of specialisation. We are familiar with different specialist medicine professionals; similarly design also has specialists who focus on a particular area or activity.

I would like to start with product design since that has been my area of focus. I was introduced to product design during my undergraduate course in architecture. We had one elective named product design. One interesting assignment of designing a chair with one adjective intrigued me.  I further followed it, did post graduation in Industrial design and then professional career. Those who have enquired about this course as career in universities must have come across the term ‘industrial design’ as well. So what is it actually? Is it the same thing, product and industrial design?

Technically, role of product designer and industrial designer is more or less the same.

Both the terms are mostly used interchangeably.  

As the name suggests industrial design is about designing for industries, something that is mass manufactured in industries. It is designing of things which are mass produced. If we think of such things around us we can enlist vehicles, furniture, machineries, gadgets etc. Thus industrial design has further subsets such as transportation, automotive, furniture, product, ceramic, packaging and so on.

Product design as the name suggests focuses more on consumer products used in day to day lives like electronic appliances, kitchen and household products, stationary products, tools etc. It is a branch of Industrial design.

So one can say this that all product designers are industrial designers but all industrial designers are not necessarily product designers they could be automotive or packaging designers.

Sketches by designer Verner Panton
Image source :http://designgallerist.com/blog/

panton-the-worlds-first-moulded-plastic-chair/

First injection moulded chair by Verner Panton
Image source :http://designgallerist.com/blog/panton-the-worlds-first-

moulded-plastic-chair/

Role of product designer is to make the product easy to use, good to touch and feel (aesthetically pleasing), comfortable to use, cost effective, easy to mass produce. To achieve this designer works in coordination with different teams. They interacts with sales, product planning and marketing teams to understand what is it that they look for in the next version of the existing product or a new product, what are other benchmark products. Designer interacts with different users, observes them, their environments to find out what users seek from the product. Based on this designer comes up with new sketches and 3d visualisation of the new product using their imagination and creativity. They further work with engineering team to materialise their concept into a real physical product.

It’s an intensive process. It takes around 6 months to 3 years of time for a product to take its shape from designer’s sketch till it reaches in the consumer. The time varies depending on the complexity of the product. A new car takes almost 4 years to run on road from the designer’s sketch book!

One might wonder how come a same designer who is designing a juicer grinder can design a sleek pair of sunglasses. Both these products and their mechanisms are so different. Well, that’s the beauty of the ‘design process’ which is meticulously followed by all good designers! 

Some useful links 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1CZw3VMpEtE

http://www.artcenter.edu/academics/undergraduate-degrees/product-design/overview.html 

https://dschool.stanford.edu/our-impact

http://edition.cnn.com/2013/06/28/tech/best-design-100-years-zaccai/index.html

https://www.vogue.com/article/iconic-industrial-design-products

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZqeA_psKn2E

http://willgibbonsdesign.com/blog/industrial-design-vs-product-design

Note:

The writer has no rights on the images used here.