What the F*&^ is Product Design
From right off the bat we had our first debate of the semester, is product design an art or an engineering discipline? I quickly realised it wasn't the topic that was important. What was important was having an opinion. Being thrown in the deep end was a good experience for me, I got out of my comfort zone and argued my point that product design is more of an art than engineering. However, if any of us had the choice we would say it was a mix of both. There isn't really any right or wrong answer it's just a grey area, and I think that's what design is: this grey area is where you can't fail but learn embracing the chaos along the way. However, I think its always important to have an opinion.
Throughout the class we were asked questions that at first glance seemed simple but as I thought about it I couldn't really answer them yet, but that's okay I guess that's what this whole module is about: Finding out who I am as a designer, where I fit in and what I do best. At this point in time what I know about myself is that I work hard and adapt the kaizen attitude, continuously learning from other designers and lecturers.
This class got me questioning everything from my design process to what design means to me. The questions helped me see that design isn't as black and white as it seems, it's okay to colour outside the lines (as long as you learn from it). For now, my design process consists of discovering problems, coming up with as many ideas as possible, refining ideas and producing a final concept or design. I hope to see this evolve as my skills and views as a designer develop, putting my own spin on things. I would also like to have the confidence to create without being scared of the end result.
We each brought in an item that in our opinion was an example of good design. After a short while I really opened up and became curious about why in their opinion it's a example of good design, how it functioned and their emotional connection towards the product. To me good design is design that makes a product useful, has a simple design and tells a story about its user. This was something all of us had in common as we explained why we chose to bring in these products.
We finished the class by being asked very broad questions that at first seemed to have nothing to do with design, but on second glance it's clear that who you are can impact how you design. To me answering these questions helps shape how I see the world of design around us.