your thoughts about pakistani designs and designers

hi…i m industrial designer from Karachi,Pakistan… it’s new field and our department is 2nd after NCA(national college of arts), that introduce industrial dzining in pakistan, i want to know that do u ppl know that industrial dziners r now growing in pakistan?..i want to know ur comments fairly…thnx

Thanks for posting. I had no knowledge that there are industrial design programs in Pakistan. This is really interesting. Can you give us some more info? Who teaches? Is it a 4 year program? After you graduate will you work as a designer in Pakistan?

yes it is 4 yr program, n many of graduate students are doing there jobs as a dziner, but the problem is that poeple have not very much knowldge abt industrial dzining over here, so v industrial dziners r facing alot of problems, coz graphix dziner, textile dziner n fineartist are doing the jobs of industrial dzine. i m from the 4th batch of my department, teachers are good and r industrial dziner, v dont have many teachers but our teachers trying to do their best. n i m sure v will reach to or goal.

hi just curious, is dziner how you spell designer in parkistan? Very interesting, how people around the world spell design or designers.

hi i my self is a product designer well by the acknowledging fact that beside we have studies /courses set here in pakistan for industrial/product design are not suitable are not functional cuz of lack of educational aid regarding such studies and tthe students graduating from such courses do not also practising the the same field i hav seen my self designers shifting from there major field to the subordinates or fields similar to…
bcz beside a ttrue fact that we dont hav the encouraging environment also here is our institutes to experiment and
our market is also not developed by the way which is the way then suggest cuz ppl who r cuming this way is useless bcz our intitutes demoralizing the todays designer to not to …
what is the other way or if there is the way r we well enough to apply that on ourselves

what i think we dont cuz wwe r cowards…

Hi, i_d_ziner,
Your story sounds such a lot like what the conditions were like in India when I passed out of design school as an Industrial Designer. We had a great training, terrific ambition but scant opportunities.
It’s taken a long time and some major policy shifts at the national level that IDers in India can look forward to earning a livelihood that does not 90% mean designing logos, brochures, interiors or exhibitions! One of the major opportunity areas is IT, where ID skills are in high demand, given the paucity of specialist Interface/Interaction Designers.
Without meaning to romanticize it, I would exhort you to leverage your core asset: the versatility and robust process expertise that you have acquired and apply it in any creative space that you can find - not for nothing did IDers succeed in designing logos, brochures and other stuff!
And now, with virtual organisations becoming a reality, you could consider teaming up with transcontinental peers to offer a truly global design service.
Wishing you the very best!

I always assume most every country has industrial designers (by title or not). Pakistan has industry therefore someone is designing.

Broader public acknoledgement of the profession is what’s nice to hear and is probably the real point. Good to hear countries like Pakistan are developing dedicated ID programs and ID as an occupation is gaining acceptance. Personally, I like that competition is increasing. It keeps me sharp.

Welcome aboard to all of you.

I bet in Pakistan there is a phrase that describes optimism vs pessimism, or a saying similar to " the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence" – is the glass half empty or half full?

To me I see Pakistan as a place where the glass is half full. Especially for ID projects.

For every disadvantage that you mention, you have three positive ID boundaries that are not in other parts of the world.

Interesting to know ID is catching up in pakistan .

Its never too late to start designing . How many design schools are there ?

i hope we can have some idea exchange happening on this front apart from exchanging bullets on warfronts now.

There are only 2 institutes one is in Lahore i.e. NCA (National College Of Arts), and other one is in Karachi i.e Department of Visual Studies, University of Karachi. I am from University of Karachi and this dept. is stablished in 1999. and i m 5th batch, the basic problem is that poeple and also industry dont have awareness about industrial design…but there are so many areas where industrial designers are required.In less facilities we are trying our best to promote industrial designing, and hoping for good future of industrial design in Pakistan. If you poeple want any type of information about designing in Pakistan, i am here. I am confident that i can do good job in my field bcoz our teachers taught the basic rules,ergonomics, anthropometrics even our courses are not much for an industrial design student but still we r doing good job again the problem is environment and people awareness.

Fourteen years ago, in Lahore having identified ID as my sole passion I set out to become one. Only to find out that National College of Arts had some sort of a product design course and that Art Centre in Pasadena was not ready to take me in. While I moved ahead on a different tangent, it is extremely pleasing to know that ID has after all arrived. Two things come to my mind.

First: from what I know of industry in Pakistan, on one hand Pakistanis tend to develop original ideas and do not follow simple reverse engineering (a la China) and on the other there have been few qualified IDs…paradox!

Second: My impression about Premium institutions in Pakistan, NCA specifically, is that of an incubator for overated individuals. The contrast was quite visible during my visit to Art Centre in Pasadena, where one could see an atmosphere of disciplined learning and hard work, and not of pseudo-creative individuals in funny outfits.

i_d_ziner ! Where did the faculty get their training? and is there a web site where you have displayed your portfolio? perhaps a college site?