Industrial Design Thesis

Hello member of Core77,

I am at the end of college and confused about my thesis. I have a title that i want to working on, its about skateboarding shoes problem that is easily ripped, and i want to provide some additional protection to it. The problem now is, after i surfed on the internet, i have found similar theme. And my question is, should i continue this thesis, ofcourse by providing different solution? Or should i find another one?
Thanks in advance,

Regards, Bowo.

Welcome to the discussion boards. and congrats on being in your final year of school.

I would recommend that you be fired up about whichever project it is that you’re about to undertake. Skateboard shoes or not, this is one of the last times you have to be pretty much self directed. Once you graduate, do you see yourself designing shoes? Is that the direction you want to take your career? You should be excited about your thesis, because you’re about to undergo a ton of work!

Sure there are ways people have attempted to fix the way that skateboard shoes breakdown with use, but what will make yours different? Maybe you design a skate shoe for a brand that doesn’t currently have a skate shoe? Maybe you create a new company, create that brand, and then create a line of shoes?

At the end of the day it’s all up to you. My recommendation is you should be passionate about your direction, and attempt to link it to the direction you want to start your career. If you want to be an automotive designer, I’m not sure skateboard shoes should be your thesis…

Hopefully that helped

You are a designer, not an inventor. If company A has a tear-resistant shoe, company B has every right to knock on your door and ask you to design a tear-resistant shoe.

Yes. If you are passionate about skateboarding shoes then do it especially if those other solutions are not great.
You will be evaluated on your work as a designer not as an inventor like iab said.

In such a case I would ask myself the following questions:

  • Will I have the resources, motivation and skills to perform this project in said timeframe?
  • Even if there are existing solutions for a given need, am I confident enough that I can come up with a solution that is different and original enough , possibly finding new needs in the process, so that it may still result in a feasible, manufacturable product and will be of enough value to profile me as a designer?

You want to be able to show that you are a great designer, but even more it would add if you can show at your graduation that there is something unique about you that shows through in your designs, your way of thinking and your way of communicating and collaborating.

So when are we going to start seeing some research and concepting on skate shoes?