Story No.5 Intro to Design for Industry

[Music] Here is a version of a lecture I gave to students at University of Sussex. It is an introduction to a module called Design for Industry of which I convene. It is not complete because some parts are irrelevant and uninteresting. I am recording a series of lectures as a resource for the students, but also insight for you to see behind the curtain of a Design degree course, and a little more info on how I operate. Welcome to Design for Industry. My name is Giles Ellis and I am teaching you this module. Not only that, I will be also acting as your boss. This module is being run at times like a practicing design studio, and all of you are working for me. You have to impress me. Be on time, work with others, be kind, get along, share the load, take responsibility, just like you would in the workplace. I am a real-life industrial designer. That is how I earn a living. I am a very lucky person. Let me tell you why. To start, let's talk about creative hierarchies. This is a bit crude, but you will get the idea. If you are a graphic designer, brilliant. It is a very important skill under the umbrella of design. But does it mean you can make something? Well, sure it does. You can make posters, forms, labels. But also if you are part of a team, then that design may be found on three-dimensional products when they are made. I am a graphic designer. I do it all the time, a little every day, and I love it. What if you are an artist? That's cool. Everybody loves an artist. You do all the things an artist can do. But what if you are an artist and a graphic designer? You have those skills, and you can join them together. Now you can do more. Maybe you can do graphic novels and illustrate stuff. I am an artist of sorts. Not the fine art stuff that would make you say, "Gosh, that guy can draw." I am definitely more illustrating, but it is art, and sometimes I sell it. Now I am not telling you this to flex. I am not showing off. I am proving a point which I am getting to. What if you could model stuff in 3D? Can you see where this is going? Now you can show me what is in your mind, right? By drawing it in 3D, and then adding back your skills of graphic design and art, you would be a powerhouse of creativity now. Perhaps you could make props for science fiction films, full spaceships, modeled with graphic and artistic identity. I don't do this very well, the 3D part, so I find someone who can. And this is an important point. If you don't do something well, either get better or find someone who is the best, and ask for their help. Let's go further. Let's add an extra thing to the mix, engineering. Now I am not expecting you all to relate fully, because engineering is a different course, but just consider that if you had a basic understanding of not just engineering, but manufacturing as well, and materials and packaging recycling maintenance, would you be the most powerful creative there is? Think you would. And there is a problem, and that is, is that engineers can make stuff, but not all of them are designers. They make stuff with maths and big brains, but not the creativity that you have, and not with the understanding of what it takes to be an industrial designer and look at a problem from all angles, their creativity most often shows in problem solving, like how to hold a piece of metal in a chuck to cut it on a CNC machine. The issue is ubiquitous in the world, and that's because those engineers know how to make the stuff real, but not all creatives do, so quite often for those it sits in portfolios and in computer files never realised. Remember this line, fix the idea. It means make it real. Now who knows what this door is called? That's right, it is a Norman door, named after the legendary designer Don Norman. I see two problems with this door, and it was most definitely designed by an engineer who did not have an understanding of industrial design. The two problems are that it has the same pull bar on both sides, therefore which side is actually pull, but we know you can't pull it from both sides because this side is labeled push, which makes it very confusing. Push side of a door should have a push plate, the other side can have a pull handle, so you know what to do when you approach the door, and it certainly would not need labeling if it was designed well. This is called human-centric design. As industrial designers, you are at the top of the creative tree, which is why this module is the best, because what is in your mind you have the power to make real, and then embellish with art and graphics and package and then market and then service, repair, recycle or dispose. This is why I am a very lucky person, because my world is dream it, make it, fixing the idea. I am that guy that makes it from beginning to end. That is what it can mean to be an industrial designer, you have power. You are just starting with this understanding, and you'll see that it is powerful stuff. But if you are worried that you don't have what it takes, that you can't tick off all the creative labels I've described, then don't worry, because there is a secret trick, a hack, something that covers all bases in one. Are you ready? To be a good industrial designer, you have to have the right attitude. It is all about mindset. Now that was probably very disappointing. You are waiting for something way more enlightening than that I bet. The right attitude is enthusiasm, not ego. Ego will not help you. Have the courage to reach out and ask questions. Don't be afraid to be brave and explore your wilder ideas. Legendary design is not safe. Can you see how your ego could hold you back? Stopping you from being enthusiastic. If you are not enthusiastic by nature, then try to fake it. Inthusiasm is not about being extra or in your face. You can be shy and enthusiastic. It really just means keen. And it is enthusiasm that I expect to see from all of you throughout our time together doing industrial design. Now we are going to have fun with this. So let's get into your projects. There are two briefs. One to be fulfilled by yourselves from beginning to end, the other in groups. You should have sorted groups out by now. It is your group project that we are starting with. Next week you will hear about your individual project. So please move tables now so you are in your groups. Now before I tell you what the scope field brief is, I should introduce my company and tell you about my design output. Now I am going to admit this part because I am sure many of you have heard it before. And if you haven't, then perhaps I will do a specific podcast on that subject. Right, we are still not ready for the brief. One more thing. I want you to do a quick exercise, a thought experiment. And these are very important and we will do more and I guarantee, in fact I promise you will get better at them. So there is no pressure for this one. It is an exercise in specialist thinking and exercise in being empathetic to your end user. Right, imagine for me please, a pen that could be used in combat situations, a military pen that is outdoors, maybe bad weather, wet freezing dry, sandy, dusty, muddy, slippery, whatever. I am going to give you a whole six minutes to give me a list of design points, for example, unbreakable and then we will assess. Please get something to write on so you can relay back to me. You are ready? Go. Okay, I am not going to call you out. Instead I am going to show you what I came up with, give you ten design brief points that I hope you got as well. As I go through the list, please tick off any that you have matched. Now number one, unbreakable. I gave you that already. That is a bit loose from a brief point because how unbreakable. If you have written "bom proof" then I would say that was over the top, perhaps unnecessary because if you get blown up you are not going to need the pen anymore. "Chief to make" they will get lost. But that is also loose isn't it? How cheap. "High this" to reduce loss but not to give away in a camouflage situation. "Nib protection" maybe it has got a cap or it is retractable. Does it have an extra function? Is it carry friendly? Light weight again. Lose. How light. Weaponized. That is a bit of a cheap shot and I think it is an easy, perhaps, old. obvious one, but we'll go with it for now. Is it functional with gloves? Does it function in extreme conditions? Okay, who got more than five? Excellent, who got more than eight? No one, okay, so that's something we've got to work on. Who got some that I hadn't thought off? Just hands up for now. Brilliant, let me talk you through my thinking. It is Adam Nibbeneum and steel, steel for the working parts aluminium for the body. There is a hardened steel tip to the non-nibb end as a brake glass component, which also could be used as a weapon. The nib retracts by turning a knurled end, and that knurled end affords the motion of twisting and gripping. It is retracted into a curved pocket friendly ball end. This is pocket specific, a small tubular pocket, so it's friction fit and does not require to clip. The clip could be a failure point. The large diameter end improves the ability to pull from the pocket. The heaviest part is hidden when the pen is pocketed, so there are no giveaways. The rest of the pen is, of course, the bead blasts and hard anodized to a drab colour. The nib is a marker, not a ballpoint. We don't need a ballpoint because everybody has their iPhones. There's no love letters from the front lines anymore. What maybe we should specify what the nib is? Let's say it's like a sharpy nib, it can write a continuous line for 2,000 metres, must dry an under two seconds, and will not smudge. It is a permanent ink and will write on all surfaces. It is able to write in conditions down to minus 20 degrees Celsius and plus 40 degrees Celsius. It weighs less than 50 grams, and is serviceable, cleanable and refillable. It looks the part. It has familiar military styling, is utilitarian but desirable. I also think it could be used as a battener wand. Do you know how people talk with a pen, and with its highlighted end, this would make it quite useful for this purpose. It instills confidence in equipment and generally has privilege of ownership. It identifies the owner as being in the military even when perhaps they are not. It took me 10 minutes to draw this and go through these points, no longer, but I got so excited about it that now I want to make this pen, so perhaps we'll see this as a scofyld product in the future. Ok, let's look at your brief. I want you guys in your groups to design for me a watch box. A watch box that must safely protect a watch in transit, and this particular box I want to be of minimal exterior dimensions. I want it to be surprising in materials and opening, not cost more than £200-$300 a unit with a minimum order quantity of 20 units. Have a QR code or some other mechanism for more information, and have corresponding transport packaging. The watch that's going inside is a model called the B6. Now I haven't made it yet, but this is one a bit like it. The B6 is going to retail for over £5,000, so it's an expensive item, and the box has to reflect this. The B6 is a bronze watch with a blue dial, and it is called Deep Blue and Shallow Green. It is very much about the sea. It is an elevated version of a watch that I have made consistently since 2013. The case back is important on this watch because it is like a port hole. As you look through a port hole, you see a mermaid, and you can see that the mermaid is holding a treasure box. We know it is a treasure box because it has an X on the top. I'm going to interrupt my lecture here by saying that the B6 is in fact a watch that is in production, and it does in fact need a box. Whether I use a student box or would be influenced by their work, I'm not sure because I've already designed the box myself, which makes it very hard for the students, so to impress me is going to be very difficult for them. After I showed the examples of Scofield boxes, and this includes the new canister for the Obscura, which is, in my opinion, a very exciting piece of design, I also went over the brief in more detail. I'm going to end it there even though the lecture continued with me talking about constraints and subdivisions of constraints. It's all very cool stuff, I think. I will do a podcast specific to constraints sometime in the future. Thank you for listening. [Music]