I have a few questions on how the actual process of industrial design works in the real world:
Does an industrial designer come up with an idea, then propose it to their managers/companies/etc.?
OR
Is an idea presented to the industrial designer and he must formulate a design to fit the wants and needs of the client/boss/etc?
I guess I’m wondering this because I like inventing new products and I have some cool ideas, but I’m not sure if I’d actually be “inventing” anything, but rather coming up with designs for prescribed products.
For example, when I look at portfolios scattered around this site, I
see a lot of the same types of products; shoes, cars, bags, etc. Nothing that’s really a completely “new” idea, but rather a new take on a traditional product.
How does this work in college as well? Do students actually get a chance to come up with a (for the most part) original idea, or are designs of particular products the whole program? Or perhaps some of each?
I guess if an ID made their own company (and were selling product X) they would essentially be doing both, but what about the majority of people out there who are just in a company as an ID?
Does an industrial designer come up with an idea, then propose it to their managers/companies/etc.?
OR
Is an idea presented to the industrial designer and he must formulate a design to fit the wants and needs of the client/boss/etc?
It can be either one and everywhere in-between.
For example, when I look at portfolios scattered around this site, I
see a lot of the same types of products; shoes, cars, bags, etc. Nothing that’s really a completely “new” idea, but rather a new take on a traditional product.
How does this work in college as well? Do students actually get a chance to come up with a (for the most part) original idea, or are designs of particular products the whole program? Or perhaps some of each?
The average industrial designer needs to design things that are easily digestable as proven products, so that is why you see lots of themes. They are often assigned as projects in school and those are the types of things they get paid to design. The original ideas aren’t on display because they are precious and apt to be stolen. You would be silly to place your original idea up for all to see without taking immense measures to protect your intellectual property. Don’t look down on people’s work because they aren’t sharing their best ideas with you. They’re showing identifiable skills needed to get work or to share and build them.
The way school goes is incredibly varied depending on the institution and student. Some students choose to take the road less traveled… others want to make sure they can get a job by doing traditional/identifiable stuff.
Industrial Design is as varied as the description of what a businessman is or does. An industrial designer can be a businessman, inventor, researcher, cad-monkey, scientist, statistician, model maker, set builder, engineer… the list goes on and on.
invention is far harder than either ID or marketing, for you have to come up with a “new and non obvious impovement or device” and that dont mean tail fins.
well I guess by “invention” I don’t mean some mindblowing device that’s never been conceived of before.
It’s more along the lines of me thinking about an idea or a problem and then coming up with plans/ideas for a device/product to solve that problem.
I guess basically I’m wondering if ID is brought in after the original concept for a product is made, if ID collaborates with the creation of said concept, or if ID actually makes up new product ideas.
For example, let’s say I work at… Sony. Maybe too big of a company to use as an example, but it’ll be ok for now. If I’m an industrial designer at Sony, is my job to create new ideas for products, or is it to translate a predetermined idea (that’s been handed to me by whomever) into a well designed product?
It seems to me that if one ran their own business they would be coming up with the products as well as making them well designed. But I’m not sure on what the exact role of a ID is.
I think that is a good example, lets take the specific example of the DVD. DVD’s where not intended by industrial designer. The problem of digital video storage was probably tackled by a team of engineers and researchers who developed the format. Once it could be done, a business case must have been made for converting the public to a new video format, taking into account that stores would have to carry VHS and DVD for a time, people would have multiple players, and the early players would be expensive as they figured out how to mass produce them. Once that was all figured out, the design team probably started designing DVD players.
The DVD player itself was just an evolution of the VHS player which was probably an evolution of a home film projector (granted, a bigger jump there).
Owning your own business you could design anything you wanted,you could draw up a sketch, do a fancy 3d render, and make models of anti gravity machines if you wanted, but would you have the resources (cash, people, facilities) to invent it?