Again, how do you feel about Leonardo da Vinci?
da Vinci was not an industrial designer. He did not develop products for mass-production. He was a thinker. An artist of concepts and theory.
I would never claim to be in the same profession as da Vinci.
Does that mean as long as we classify people who create far-out ideas as “thinkers” instead of industrial designers we won’t have any problems?
I’m still waiting for a really good (non transportation) product design example of something that got huge recognition and was totally impossible.
IMO it’s hard to have a discussion about something like this if there aren’t specific examples of it.
Totally false. Read up:
he was a engineer, artist, scienticst, buisness man, painter and scluptor. All of his designs were buildable within the technology available at the time and for the most part WORKED. The conjoining of buisness, science, art and engineering ment that he could and did make money where ever he went. Leo designed and built what his customers wanted, huge assed horse, ok with leo, defend a city, good by him, a piture for the wall, all cash in the bank.
But the fact remains that:
He designed for mass production/consumption
Many of his inventions were impractical based on current technology
He’s viewed as a visionary and important historical figure
He would probably be labeled an Industrial Designer today (how many times is ID described as a “renaissance field?”)
Okay, okay, I get it!! you guys win. I retract my statement. I’ve never heard of industrial design being considered an renaissance field. That’s kinda cool.
For an example of a “out there” product, how 'bout the Bumprella by RKS Design? It could be done, but it’s challenging.
How about the helicopter? Was that buildable within the technology available?
if you tossed it off a building it would ummmm desend at less then terminal velocity. 
Remeber kiddies there really was nothing that would be termed mass production back then
I don’t see why thats an impossible design…I just think it’s a BAD design. If the purpose is to avoid jabbing other people with the tips of your umbrella…then get an umbrella with soft/rounded plastic tips and stop being such a clutz. Making an umbrella that you have to inflate is just a bad idea for many reasons.
that particular inflated shape is impossible the way it’s pictured. the dome either has to became way less dome-like and more flat, or the dome has to be broken up in multiple chambers that are inflated separately. no?
[quote=“skinny”]
Lets say that before shock absorbers, engineers had problems with the hard ride on the road with potholes, sore tailbones, etc… They kept trying solutions like changing the wheel materials and diameter to solve the problem to no avail.
Then some kid comes along and says why don’t the cars just use springs instead of wheels so you can jump from place to place, then you hop over the potholes so don’t have to deal with them.
Of course then some engineer type will come over and spout all of the technical impossibilities of that scenario and how absurd it is to think that you can hop place to place and that what the inertia and compression forces required to even think about it would do to the passenger and car, etc…
I like that comment, and maybe its this type of occasional blue sky thinking may be what seperates us from engineers (and five semesters of calculus)
Some times, expecially in the past, some of the really far out projects bothered me, if for instance I would see them in a magazine or as honorable mention in a contest (Im going to pull another non-example situation) but as time passed, and as I challanged myself to see the design opportunities in these type of projects and even to stop and think of something almost ridiculous, I began to see the value.
I challenge you to do the same, maybe you ought to sit down and think of one of these wild solutions to something! I would go further and consider the solution may not even be a product at all, but an overly complex system. Thing of the experience not the artifact, do you need a slick new phone or do you need to tell your girlfriend your going to be late for dinner?
The design as is in this rendering:
Is completely impossible, but the overall concept of an inflatable umbrella isn’t. The design itself looks like something that a 14 year old with some cad software put together. If the handle needs a pump its going to need some kind of mechanical components and NONE of that has been factored into the design.