![What Does An Industrial Designer Do? [Podcast]](https://qualityinspection.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/WhatDoesAnIndustrialDesignerDoPodcast.jpeg "What Does An Industrial Designer Do? [Podcast]")
In this episodeā¦
British product designer Andy Bartlett guests on the podcast to explore industrial design in detail.
An industrial designer is one of the important players in realizing your product concept and developing it so it is helpful to understand how they work. To that end, Andy will answer the following questions:
What is industrial design? What are the best practices followed by designers? What tools might they use and when? What role does CMF (color, material, finish) play in the design process? What do industrial designers need to know from you when you start working with them?
You’ll get plenty of insight into what industrial designers do and helpful guidance from Andy about how to use them to make your new product development and manufacturing project run more smoothly.
Just hit the play button to start listening..!
Listen to the episode right here ššš
š§Ā Andy Bartlett | All About Industrial DesignĀ š§
Show Sections
00:00 – GreetingsĀ
00:59 – Today’s topicĀ
1:10 – Andy introduces himself and his experience as a product designer
02:16 – What is industrial design?
Industrial designers’ jobs are to lead creatively, drive forward the design of the product, and respond to their clients’ needs. Passions, especially around color, can be stirred up and this makes it a challenging job. Industrial design plays a very important role as it helps differentiate your product in the marketplace and attracts potential consumers. Industrial design can be broken down into three elements: CMF (color, material, and finish).
04:56 – When can/should you engage an industrial designer?
Industrial designers can be engaged at any time throughout the development of a product, for example using them to help refresh a product’s colors, looks, etc, in newer versions.
Typically from a design perspective, the best time to start is at the beginning of development where they have the most opportunity to shape the product and influence its direction with a creative approach (they may challenge preconceived ideas about the solution to the problem that the product is trying to provide).
Designers need to know how to gauge their customers’ needs so they know when to push designs to be quite ‘out there’ or keep things more restrained.
07:13 – What tools & processes will industrial designers use?
A pencil and paper for quickly sketching 2D images is a great starting point as it allows quick designs with good color and form to be done allowing fast communication with your customer. Industrial designers sometimes make the mistake of going into 3D too quickly which actually stifles the creative process and slows them down. A sketchbook in the pocket allows the designer to realize their ideas as and when inspiration comes which could be anywhere, anytime.
When moving into 3D, selecting the right software is important. Associative modellers (e.g. Creo, Solidworks, etc) can be too engineering-focused. A simpler surface modelling package like ‘Rhino’ will provide a smoother ‘flow.’
The route a designer will usually take follows this process: Pencil, illustrator, surface/solid modelling, renderings/simulations. Each step along the chain, the more time-consuming it is. Designers shouldn’t be afraid to take a step back if the design needs it, for example, to solve a problem, as problems can often be solved more easily in 2D than 3D.
11:34 – Can you go into prototyping before finishing 3D designs?
Cardboard and paper mockups in the workshop can be used to create more basic ‘prototypes’ even if the 3D design isn’t yet complete. Demonstrating a product’s mechanism, for instance, can be done with very low-tech skills and yields good enough results for the customer to get a good idea about how the product may work or look.
For a 3D-printed prototype, however, a 3D design on the computer would be required in advance, but simple solutions can be very effective before we start using more advanced technology.
13:24 – CMF: Color, Material, and Finishes
An industrial designer will be considering materials while they’re working on the form of the product although it can be mistakenly considered as an afterthought in some cases. The designer will consider the feel and finish as well as more functional points such as a material’s toughness or drop resistance.
Finishes will depend on the material used, but industrial designers need to have a deep understanding of the different finishes and what’s possible. Understanding the limitations of processes allow you to get the best from them and only propose achievable things saving time and frustration. An example is the difference between the number of colors that can be achieved through anodising and electroplating aluminum (the latter offering a lot fewer). Therefore, it’s in an industrial designer’s interest to really understand the features of finishing processes, especially in the flesh where look and feel can be experienced.
17:22 – Is it beneficial for industrial designers to specialize in one product type or have a broader experience?
The best industrial designers are often those that have moved between industries picking up ideas and experiences along the way. Automotive and furniture design are two areas where interesting experience can be gained, for example. The same goes for suppliers. For example, when producing a new consumer electronic product, a supplier with experience in the automotive industry may be able to use some automotive production processes to reduce time and investment over what would normally be done for consumer electronics.
19:14 – Why compromise is a useful skill for designers
Sometimes a designer needs to know when to compromise and pivot according to what an individual supplier can achieve rather than perhaps their initial feelings about CMF. Using an existing process or color from the supplier will help a project run more smoothly, even if the designer couldĀ use something that’sĀ nicer, for example, as it reduces development time, uses the supplier’s current expertise to its full, and increases the risk of mistakes and stress on the relationship when a supplier grapples with unfamiliar processes, etc.
21:11 – What information do industrial designers need from their clients at the start of an engagement and how to manage the customer’s requirements?
Every client has a different understanding of products, for instance, some are very experienced and savvy in the mechanical side of things, but have no idea about how a product should look aesthetically, whereas others can be the opposite. The industrial designer needs to flex around what the client wants and understands, filling gaps where needed.
Andy’s process is as follows when working with a new client:
- Try and understand what they have in their mind about the product already
- Which brands and products do they like?
- Understand how much exploration they want about the product’s idea (some will be content with one design, some would prefer several quite different ideas)
- Find out the target selling costs
- Find out the core functions
- Find out the build and materials
- Get details on the supplier they’re planning to use (if already arranged) and what expertise their product and design engineers have
Starting from scratch can be daunting. The industrial designer needs to be a guide and so nurturing relationships is also an important skill for them, especially as their work involves many different stakeholders throughout the NPI process (engineering, production, marketing, sales, etc).
28:57 – Experiences and advice about being a part of a multinational project (customer in one country, designer in another, production supplier in Asia)
This has become a more difficult situation due to covid, as the ability for the industrial designer to visit the supplier and see their processes, limitations, expertise, etc, up close is very valuable.
Doing as much as possible to have mature product designs, CMF, etc, beforeĀ going to the supplier in Asia will help the project run smoothly. Giving them multiple color options, for example, will be confusing.
Performing, say, a technical quality audit on suppliers can provide industrial designers with a lot of useful information (videos, images, etc) about the supplier’s processes and capabilities which, in turn, influences their product design. For instance, if a supplier is able to confirm that they can produce certain finishes using a texture book, the designer will limit their exploration to these finishes for the sake of ease. This can save time and difficulty by providing the supplier with designs that they have the ability to produce with their existing processes.
33:33 – Wrapping up.Ā
Related contentā¦
Andy has been on the show before, of course, and you may remember him from shows about good project management of Chinese suppliers and NPI process best practices.
- Why You Need Mature Product Designs BEFORE Working With A Chinese Manufacturer!
- Why Product Reliability Testing Is A MUST During Product Design [Podcast]
- A Product Designerās Tips For New Product Launches
- How Bad Product Design Leads to Many Quality Issues
- Is Your New Product Design Ready for Manufacturing in China? [5 Questions]
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