"Industrial design is changing." It has been changing since it's creation. Every year a new material, new process, new tool or whatever comes up. Those who can't adapt will stay on the past.
As you get experience in the field, you will refine your approach too. Understanding the work and how you can apply your unique skillset in a productive way. This will require specialist tools, materials, processes, etc. Good design is solving problems in ways that haven't been done before.
Brilliant. Well done. As an industrial designer in my 60’s, you hit it on the head. The hours I spent learning to render in markers versus the visualization tools of today. Oh my! It is a very interesting time for all societies and cultures and I’m delighted to see young designers branching beyond the traditional artifact. Design is passion and love. The artifact is just the manifestation to deliver the experience. I’m happy to sit back and watch the prolific, ubiquitous creativity coming from every corner. Embrace the Simon Herbert saying - “Everyone is a designer who devises a course of action to change an existing situation to a preferred one.” The world needs more designers. We’re living in a radical VUCA era that needs sustainable solutions. More power to the emerging designers. You will change the world. Great podcast. Can’t wait to discover more.
Hi Jim, it's truly an honor to receive such kind words from an industrial designer with your level of experience. Thank you for providing much-needed context to this discussion. I love everything you've said here!
You have to make what marketers and the Chinese cant make, mechanically complex and aesthetically pleasing products with great branding. The simple products have too much competition unless your design is superior, but then it'll just be instantly replicated.
Another great and insightful video. We're in a new renaissance of design. Not just ID but ALL design practices. During the first renaissance sciences, humanities, and arts were all blending together as scholars embraced a wide range of fields with deep curiosity. The age of industry has passed, the age of information is also now waning. Up next is the age of Insight - both emotional and intellectual. And the primary tool for understanding those areas is and will always be driven by human curiosity. This is not exclusive to designers, it will be important for all of us, but the designers will take those curious insights and connect them in ways that others might not yet see. Curiosity to Connection will the the core method to actualize the industrious skills of tomorrow.
As always, I could not agree more. Perhaps a long-form discussion is in order to get down to the specifics of this. What does a job look like in the age of insight? Does a job even really exist in this context (at least in the traditional sense)?
@@Design.Theory It's already starting to happen with more emphasis on Design Research and Strategy. If you dissect those words, research is re-searching (curiosity) and a big part of strategy is formulating connections that your competitors might not see. So in a way these areas are already informing the prototypical designer for the future. The industrial designer "job" of the future is going to rely heavily on investigation which I believe will blend curatorial practices in archival research of culture and object use, more cultural borrowing and blending, sensitivities to regional preferences and object dialects based on how different cultures process object value, and of course materials use with care towards ecosystem-market synergies, whereby markets for produce have uniquely targeted eco-cultural balance measures in place as part of product development and long-term market cycles.
I know this is an older video but seeing the evolution of designers and tinkerers as business owners over the past few years has been an EXCELLENT shift both for consumers and sellers. I love designing unique products that aren't necessarily one-size fits all and knowing that being born in this time frame I get to do just that is super enticing and honestly in itself the biggest blast I've ever had as a designer.
I'm a packaging engineer. Yes we would appreciate collaboration with the product designers! For example they sent me a bathroom ceiling fan that was 13"x 13", a nightmare for any direction it would be packed out. But was too late to change that, he lost prob 20% off the pallet count
So glad I stumble upon your channel, you truly give a great perspective on what is like to be a Creative in current times! As a GenX person the rug was pulled from under our feet and here we are, so many of us are stuck in the past but we got to move forward. Thank you for all the great content and perspective you share in this wonderful channel, much success to you Mister!
Thank you for this video. I have a fascination with design systems and providing solutions through a well made cleanly designed product. I really want to major at Pratt for industrial design and this gives me somewhat confidence that I could still be in this field. Unfortunately, I am poor. Through Starbucks I’m mastering in ux and ui. From there I’d like to take out loans to go to Pratt. I will continue to watch your videos. Thank you again.
I think another way of looking at what your role in Industrial Design could be is by referring to Charles Handy's Shamrock Organisation model. He describes 3 parts of organisations, rhe first the creative core - the lot who come up with the ideas and get things completed. The second are people who are the contractors and technicians who specialise in an area of the process and brought in as and when needed - the rendering specialist or prototype makers are examples of this. The third are the consultants/experts who provide very high end specialist input into the process of creating something, in film making these are the actors, in design they could be a electronics engineer specialising in robotics. With technology advancements and blurring functional boundaries the question is where in the shamrock do you want to sit? If its technician then it's piece of a big pie but it can be a very good business. Look at how Film industry is structured to understand how Industrial design has changed, which is in part driven by technology and on part by efficiency needs but good design is still good design and that requires talent and holistic thinking.
As an industrial designer that started focusing on digital experiences in the mid 90s, I can +1 your thoughts. I also teach ID at the college level and share your hypothesis with students. Modern ID is a mindset and one that is open to solving for wicked problems, with the user at the center of it all. Thanks for this video!
I rarely do anything that could be called design, but I'm constantly dazzled by the subtle messages it conveys to us. Some really strong material here for anyone regardless of profession. Hybridization is going to happen to all of us. What do we want to turn into?
Great video! I started in ID in 1970. Amazing how much has changed in 51 years. Our first project was a waste can that did not require hands but couldn't use a foot pedal, either. I was watching the electronics in the video today. A far cry from my slide rule and graph paper renderings.😀
Oh wow! That's awesome. You must have such a rich understanding of all of these paradigm shift. Things have changed so much in my short career. I can't even imagine what it's been like over the past 50.
Man! you are really making me nervous! Being a kid who aspired to become an Industrial designer and end up as a Senior RnD engineer.... your videos always keep my mind Exploring, and always keeping me reminded that I have not even tasted a teaspoon full.. the grand ocean is still ahead. I feel that you are talking in my language of understanding. Thankyou for making such videos John
That's exactly right. It's like being on a boat in the ocean during a hurricane. You can either cower away and drown or defiantly stare uncertainty in the face and make something happen.
I reckon ID has always been about adaptability, may it be from the market, a company operational structure, or simply new material and even your brief itself. I'll remember one of my first boss about 15 years ago telling me that industrial design is all about turning a problem into a solution, and now more so than ever given the pace the market, the people, the society and technology evolve.
Congrats on starting a podcast! Hearing 'the end of ID' is so dooming, but it's relieving that the the end is just a transition into the new, and I figure we'll all be swept along with it eventually anyway.
Hey this is SPOT on and just what I was hoping you’d cover in you videos. I would love to hear more about specialization and really get into maybe even forecasting clever ways to use ID discipline . This gives me TONS of hope for the craft, as well as myself
As an old Industrial Designer - I evolved into a UX Product designer, as this involves the same human centred design process. I’m now a UX Director for a EV company.
I agree that skills are now democratized. I never went to business or design school but I was able to learn how to design, prototype and manufacture my own products and them sell online under different brands. I launched my first patented product a few weeks ago and we've already sold 70 units to our target market. I'm now seeking to sharpen my design skills and create new products. Such a fun and exciting experience!
Thank you for this. This video made me realize how much industrial design has crossover into the software design space. There are differences, sure, but software UI and UX at its core has a lot of the same fundamentals as industrial design does in the physical space. Hell, it seems like some of the tenants of industrial design can be used in less obvious places, from software architecture to business practices.
I absolutely love your videos. Im an ID student in wisconsin and it can be really difficult to get an idea of whats going on in the rest of the world where the field is really innovating
Brilliant! I am an Architect. My work has always been downstream of ID. Ideally today, architectural design is adjacent to and informing ID. This promise of mass customization or AI enabled prototyping has been kicked around for at least 20 years. I think it has finally arrived to the world of construction, but is still only at about 1% actualized. I see massive change on the near-term horizon in this huge, high stakes industry. I would love to see this topic explored in your series. The obstacles today are more about satisfying the motives of disparate project teams. Maybe less about ID per se. systems thinking at a high level.
I actually did a video exploring AI design tools. It's my most recent video. Check it out if you haven't already. Architecture tends to be way ahead of industrial design in terms of technologies used. I think it's because architecture is a little bit more academic in its approach, and therefore people spend a bit more time exploring possibilities rather than strictly sticking to what we know will work. Anyway, thank you for watching the video and providing your insights!
Amazing video ! As our generations retail habits are changing towards experience beyond the product. It’s time we account for where our products fit in the bigger picture(system).
Great video ! Thanks guys , I have been doing this for 35 years and every day is new exciting and keeps me keen and excited, my speciality is diversity, I have a very extensive workshop and run projects from concept to delivery. Over my career I have delivered more than 300 products and never worked on the same product twice! ID is not a job it is a lifestyle love the content looking forward to the next video :)
Hi John, we are Asanka, furniture design studio from Indonesia. We are so happy to finally find your channel who explain product design in another level. There are so much to learn for us, especially regarding how to implement the product design principles in heterogenous culture of Indonesia. Hopefully we could have some discussion about it, or maybe you could give your perspective about such situation. Keep inspiring, John. *Forgive my horrible English.
Wow! I love your content! Lately I was feeling lost, but this channel came to my life to clear me things up and motivate me to keep going, and start doing. Thanks!
I've been pushing this modern systemic approach to design right from the beginning of my career (6-7 years ago) and found some interesting points which made me rethink is it that viable or not. 1st - getting deeper in merged areas like marketing or brand image steal time both yours and professionals who do this in client business. Even more so most of the time clients do listen to what designers introduce in this complex approach when presented not only a product but also a complex solution over brand, marketing, supply chains, etc. But not as common for this things to grow after final deliverables have been sent. Because from the start it is unusual to include in contract full-on support from design bureau (because it is expected from bureau to work on design, not "other" things on client money) it makes all this complex work kinda immature. Yes it helps and shows that designers did think and even found some new solutions. But especially for bigger manufacturers - they have long term plans and whole teams working on similar topics. 2nd - it is not uncommon to present your projects to middle-top management. And given the size of manufacturers - it is rare that this exact knowledge for business generated on design team side to be picked up by people who need it on client side to make it viable and to grow in client business. 3rd - you kinda spend your time on what may be "put into the table". In all of that I see that it is best to grow your team with unique and experienced professionals in respected industries. If you would like to include marketing and branding in your design - use full force approach on this or make it like 1-minute-read-no more. There is a question how to generate salary for such colleagues tho. It is like hiring full time engineer to design team. Half of the time he may do nothing. And the last thing. It is interesting that when you discuss and design things like brand / supply / image / marketing / etc surrounding the product, thinking about full product life cycle - it is not so common for me to meet people who 1st - think about that as hard as me 2nd - have experience in this kind of design 3rd - have a common knowledge with me so we can proceed forward with ease - it is more like uncanny knowledge now. I know there are bureaus like IDEO and other human-centric designers, actually I am even jealous of their ability to work in interesting design approaches, but I find that most small to medium clients don't really look for this when they hire industrial designers. And it is sad. IMO majority of what ID do - is kinda blank and grounded work. Which is still important but those clients are kinda disconnected from this modern trends IMO.
great video! I think it is also largely affected by new management decisions, and how much design is no longer an isolated activity. Of course, Many legacy companies will take time to adapt but the newer companies are pushing design harder and its apparent that not only companies, but also academic institutions must adapt. I think how much you can learn on the internet are just playgrounds for any student.
I am not an industrial designer, I am a digital product designer. But what you say applies to my field as well and I think it's safe to assume, that multidisciplinary approach and systems thinking are steadily becoming the new foundation of every corner of design practice (including architecture). I think it's amazing we can witness this transition and the potential and the needs for this are huge. Really quality content, man. Subscribed.
@@Design.Theory And you are doing damn well job at keeping up! Would be interesting to hear your take at Design X. Will be looking out for your content, greetings from Czechia!
Thanks John...I was hoping that you would have included the emergence of Product Design that includes UX/UI which encapsulates a lot of the transition to systems and new frontiers for ID skill sets. This is really important for the next generation of wannabe hard goods designers. Many research universities have now implemented Product Design programs that are more technology and applied research in orientation. Many of these types of grads are now employed by large corporate entities and lack many of the traditional ID skill sets.
I'll probably do a separate video on that. In the longer interview with Ryan Hume, we actually did discuss that for a few minutes. I'll be posting that full-length interview in a couple of weeks.
Great video - new sub! I'm graduating with my bachelor of product design this year, and boy is it an exciting but scary time nonetheless. The past 3 years of my degree has seen a massive shift in how the course is taught due to COVID, and sadly it's feeling like we're graduating with lesser skills than we should have. Regardless, I cannot wait to get out in the real world and follow my passion and hopefully make the positive impact I've always dreamt of making. Can't wait for your future content!
Really nice video John, an honest blend of caution and optimism. I see a parallel with design projects as well; where more constraints (rigid, reliable path to "do ID") makes it easier to get started as it guides your creativity. Blue sky thinking can be very difficult, though it offers the greatest opportunity for innovation and disruption. Just as we're seeing the beginnings of a renaissance of non-traditional ID roles and career trajectories, broader industry acceptance for non-traditional ID education looks to be inevitable.
Thanks for the kind words as always, Kang Gaston. It's so important to be looking ahead to the next big innovation. That's what Loewy, Rams, and Eames did in their 20th century paradigm, after all.
Systems Design Approach (SDA)has been in use far longer than is acknowledged. Any problem solving process involves taking information and transforming into useful criteria for definitive decisions. This skill and approach can be applied to a huge range of design challenges. lt requires more collaborative and incliusive participation of all stakeholders as well as an openess to listen to different perpectives.
That is peculiar that in talk about *Transition into a New Frontier* John not even mentioning sustainable design and personal minimalism. The former one is quite clear Reduce/Reuse/Recycle. The later one is a trend where people make a choice to get less stuff in general. Less is More! Or in industrial design terms. *Less Stuff, More Quality.* In a way it is also a sustainable strategy aiming to reduce the consumption.
gotta be honest chief, entering my final BA year in industrial design and i'm shitting my pants. The usual anxiety of getting out of college and securing my first job and now a change in industry? Gonna be a fun ride boys
I felt exactly the same way. It's normal. Just take the time to sharpen your skills. Be humble and don't assume any position is "beneath" you. Persistence will be rewarded. You got this!
I felt the same way in 1981. Chill. Relax. Be true to yourself. You can apply this training, these skills to so many areas beyond just the artifact. It’s systems thinking. It’s lateral thinking. It’s unbridled creativity. Be open. Experiment. Give and receive. Let yourself get knocked down. Get back up. Put up a fight. Don’t back down. Find/pursue your calling.
This is a great video! Thank you for sharing with us. I recently graduated as an Industrial Designer but feel like I am not up to the standard... it’s so scary
Glad it was helpful! Graduating can be incredibly overwhelming. Don't worry, though. If you feel like you're not up to the standard, identifying the problems is the first step towards improvement. You got this :)
Glad to hear it! I wanted to be balanced and objective about the future of industrial design, while also making people feel excited to move forward. I'm glad to hear that the video had that effect for you.
@@Design.Theory hahahah. Sadly. But all the sides of my reality, the things I like or study face that "truth". Rock is dead. "Pop is dead". "The skyscraper is dead" "suburbia" "radio" "television" "the MCU" "Moore's law" and everything. The electric car is dead, because batteries are bad and there no tithium, or the hydrogen car cause the recharging places are sooo expensive to build. I'm not sure why, but everything is "dead". Antibiotics. Amazonas, economical growth and society as we know it. The office as workplace. It's like our new mantra. It's not a critic at your work wich I love! It's a thing I want to bring here and think about it. Marketing is dead too. Everything feels so Loki these days.
It's not Industrial Design is dead or any other design disciplines are dead. I think we're just approaching a new era of doing things after the advent of internet and the rapidly growing production technology obtained in the last few decades. So many things supposed to be only happened in a scifi movie are now easily be found in everyday life.
It's about saturated mediums: advertising is out-of-touch and devoid of creativity ( I studied it in university) pop music is repetitive, and industrial design is reminiscent of the totalitarian rule with the poor quality and pure dread that come with organised poverty: those who lived it - don't miss it.
wow this realñly open my mind , im studing industrial desing and i whant to create more funcional ergonomic and efficient products just becouse i suffered many unconfortable cituacion whith many thing like cars , headphones, yust for mention some.i´s really good this video .regards from San Juan Argentina
The sad thing about this new normal of "always be learning" paradigm is that class privilege can and will put some people disproportionately ahead. If developing a specialization takes 2000 hours of learning and practice, a trust fund kid who doesn't need to work can accomplish it in a year of dedicated work but if you work an unrelated job full-time and trying to break into the industry, you'll have to sacrifice a lot and still accomplish the same level of practice in two years or more. Now imagine doing this all the time. I started UX design with a more fortunate friend of mine and 3 years in, they have 5x more personal projects under their belt and their portfolio is a lot nicer. We did a daily practice routine together and their results were consistently more eye-candy because I'd spend an hour or two after work and they'd spend 4-5 hours because they worked part time from home for a family member and didn't have to pay rent as their place was inherited. I know it's been like this forever but now more than ever, to find your own path you need to spend time and not everyone has time. It's not just class position; having kids or a sick parent takes time too. I don't know the solution and have come to terms with the fact that it is what it is but damn.
Yeah. I don't have an answer for this. It's a really tough situation. If you ever want portfolio feedback you can always reach out to me. It's not going to solve these larger macro-trends regarding society and class privilege, but it's something.
This was very motivating. I've honestly took a break from ID because of the giant that is Product & UX was exhausting to hear about. But yeah, I still want to be an Industrial Designer. Specialization does sound like something I'd want to look into.
hey travis this might sound a bit superficial. but imagine the lifestyle you would like to have in your 30's and check the average salaries for entry level, jr, snr UX designer and industrial designer. only then decide. I believe coroflot has such info
Not sure I agree 100 percent. Online clothes, boots, shoes don't fit probably half of the customers. You need a tryon to see what it looks or feels like. Retail audio shops have almost disappeared and it is a crap shoot whether what you order is going to sound good to you and as a result most people do not know what good sound is any more. Much of us depend on someone else's opinion on youtube who is flogging a brand that is supplying him with product. I don't this much of this new "variety" is necessarily good.
The age of the niche market is apon us, there will be many opportunities for people to make themselves highly skilled in interconnected skillsets that will make you very sought after and valuable. 'The person monopoly' David Perell/ Naval Ravikant speak on this in greater detail.
I will have to give that a look. I've heard of Naval, but never David Perell. I've never really read very much of either of them. Thank you for providing this additional context!
ID here from Europe. My university is already very progressive in the things we are taught. so progressive in fact that I fear I haven't learned enough of the classic ID. this video gives me confidence that my skills are needed. but unfortunately I haven't found the agencies and companies that are already up to that level. so I'm mad at my university for preparing me for something that doesn't exist yet. Will what i was taught be useful at all? very confusing situation.
Hmmmm. My advice would be to learn the technical skills on your own time and continue onward in the program. That will make you very competitive for the job market. Honestly, the technical skills are time consuming and challenging to learn, but anyone can do it. Teaching someone to think about design holistically is MUCH more challenging though. So if you can already do that, you're in good shape. Just focus on the technical skills over summer and winter breaks.
In conclusion, I’m going back to watching industrial design videos. People want personalised products, big companies can’t compete here, it’s generally a positive environment, And modern design programs make it much easier to to design
Id love to see a update on this with all the AI tools happening. I feel and see a lot of fear around it. I think its going to change the ideation process, and maybe even some digital processes.
Could anlalyze about onewheel desgns? Especially between onewheel pint and onewheel XR. Pint is more like a consumer, entry-level product. While XR is a flagship, more engineering-centric. I would love your insight on the changes they made from XR to pint. Thanks for your vids always!
Very true, any domain has its own flow with the advancement in technology,, change is option we have and you have shown some those options in the vedeo.. thank you so much.. as "Sir Darwin's theory of survival of the fittest"..
Thank you for watching. I think there are some massive opportunities for those willing to make some changes in their skillset, and more importantly their mindset.
@@Design.Theory True, with the open mindset, seeing with perceiving the things with through the lenses of opportunity would definitely add values in our career, Thank you so much again. Good day.
I agree with how easy it is to learn KeyShot for rendering, but learning proper surface modelling is still a skill which takes much longer. Is Sub-D NURBS making that easier though? Maybe.
Sub D modeling doesn't really replace surface modeling in my opinion. You don't have the same control over the surface transitions. Maybe in the future it will, though. Surface modeling is not as important as it used to be because everything is just a rounded rectangle these days. That trend may change, though.
@@Design.Theory I think if you see the transitions happening in surface modelling in automotive design where Sub-D is becoming standard process it will come to Industrial Design in the same way. Anyway, my point was more than KeyShot is a bit of an anomoly because it is so ridiculously easy to learn, more than other skills and knowledge. Things are definitely all becoming easier and free learning content more available, but KeyShot is not a good baseline example.
@@Vanastarr I would say you are generally correct. Many of the skills are highly technical and difficult to learn. But compare the amount of sketching tutorials online now compared to 10 years ago (there were very few, or maybe even none). The skills are still hard to learn. But they are still significantly easier to learn compared to any time in the past.
As an aside, it seems natural that spectacle frames would be customised, but we’ve managed for hundreds of years with a few standard sizes. I think once an optometrist slightly bent the bridge of the frame of my glasses, a process that took 5 seconds. So is the customisation just an unnecessary marketing thing?
Ha, I studied under Rahms in Hamburg. He was always drunk, and we had to knock on his door and wait for ever for him to sober up, to at least open his door for us students. the legacy and the actual man .......
@@Design.Theory Hey John...I couldn't even describe how much did I benefit from learning all the things regarding ID career and skills from you and this channel that I wouldn't learn from the school. I wouldn't be remotely the same as who I am right now if I didn't come across this channel. Keep up with the good work.
Thank you Reiten. You're awesome. I am grateful to have the privilege to teach students like you, even if it is from a great distance. I'm excited to see your continued career growth.
I’ve never met a group of people more eagerly ready to announce their own discipline is dead or dying more than industrial designers. I’m not sure why this is but they are wrong. ID will always evolve and adjust with new materials, manufacturing, logistics, marketing and purchasing trends and the fact will always remain that really good design will matter. The idea that because Keyshot is easy to learn and get ahold of, everyone can be a designer is incredibly naive and clearly untrue. That’s like saying, “Since everyone can afford markers, everyone can become a good rendering artist.” It just dismisses too many inherent talents and developed skills that are still required to achieve good design. ID is not dead, it’s just always changing. This is not news.
I generally agree with you. However, the barrier to entry around learning technical skills is significantly lower and there is no denying that. Your marker analogy is a bit off though. It has less to do with the markers being available and more to do with the unprecedented access to information and a much more streamlined workflow. EDIT: One more thing. Of course knowing keyshot doesn't make you a good designer. But the ability to execute 20 renderings in the time it took to make 1 using traditional methods certainly allows you to progress more quickly.
I'm currently studying to be in the field of Wearable Technologies like what you've done, but focused on the whole body as an ecosystem. Where to take my ideas has seriously been overwhelming to say the least because of the insane amount of options, traditional industrial design is definitely not the case anymore like you said, so the modern and future approach is looking more open to different platforms especially software based. I'm just asking if it's a good idea to do both physical and software based design as an avenue to look at? Also great video!
Well I think ultimately it's up to you. This is just my opinion and I don't have a crystal ball that will tell us the future. But I think that investing time in both hardware and software would be incredibly valuable.
In some countries Industrial Design pretty dead. Just because there are not so much industries who make anything. So it is interesting to hear from the professor in the country where ID is pretty much alive that "ID is dead" :)
I agree with some of this, but not all. Saying large multi-nationals can't compete with smaller companies under cutting them assumes they are selling an identical product. They rarely do. The percentages in this regard have stayed exactly the same since the 1970s. I think what this video explains is the entire design process, not industrial design (IMO). An industrial designer is responsible for a fraction of what is described on here. If you work for a design consultancy or brand worth their salt (and value design/engineering), they will have a/or many systems engineers. Systems thinking is part of ID, but you won't be the owner of the systems design, it's highly likely a systems engineer (with a 4-5 degree in systems engineering) will be running the show. Don't let this video scare you :) ID hasn't changed that much...I've been doing it for blue chip constantly and brands for over 30yrs now. This video really just talks about the tools at your disposal and not the fundental process. The double diamond will always be your friend 🤗
Your professor was sort of right in the sense that a traditional ID job in America where you could get hired at a design firm just doing ID was a possible path to a career. Design firms like that have been steadily going out of business, but not why you think. Not because there is less of a demand, the truth is they have moved overseas. Most products in America are made in China. So what a lot of those companies started doing about +10 years ago is offering the design for free as a package deal for them to make the product. This basically killed most of the design firms in the US. Traditional ID is still being done, but now it's part of manufacturing and less about design offices.
I would say that the skillset is being vertically integrated. That can be on the manufacturing side, or it can be within the actual company. Many companies are just hiring in-house full-time teams. This doesn't leave much room for design firms.
@@Design.Theory You are probably right, I think design firms are on their way to becoming a relic of the past. However, not sure that's a good thing. A big design firm has hundreds of years of collective knowledge and a lot more resources. Also, being employed by the firm you are designing for is a double edged sward. You might have more freedom to own your design, but you also are at the whim of that company. For example an Architect who works in a firm has the power behind him to tell the client his demands will result in something truly awful and can even turn the work away. An Architect who is employed by a developer has to do what he wants or lose his job. Generally speaking most developers have only one thing in mind, fast and cheap. A a result, they typically force their designers to produce what usually looks like schlock.
Yeah, I'd say there are pros and cons to each. But companies are typically on a path towards ruthless efficiency. Vertical integration of various job functions is one way to achieve that. There will always be a need for outside consultants. I just think they will play a smaller role. Your can still influence change from the inside of an organization as a full time in house designer. In some ways it's actually easier than being an outsider
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"Industrial design is changing." It has been changing since it's creation. Every year a new material, new process, new tool or whatever comes up. Those who can't adapt will stay on the past.
That is exactly right!
Wish I could stay in the past. It's all about user experience and apps now. Not to mention the weight of politics.
@@tamasdanielszanto969 we can only move forward.
As you get experience in the field, you will refine your approach too. Understanding the work and how you can apply your unique skillset in a productive way. This will require specialist tools, materials, processes, etc. Good design is solving problems in ways that haven't been done before.
Why would you say that..its like saying hey walls are vertical wow.
Brilliant. Well done. As an industrial designer in my 60’s, you hit it on the head. The hours I spent learning to render in markers versus the visualization tools of today. Oh my! It is a very interesting time for all societies and cultures and I’m delighted to see young designers branching beyond the traditional artifact. Design is passion and love. The artifact is just the manifestation to deliver the experience. I’m happy to sit back and watch the prolific, ubiquitous creativity coming from every corner. Embrace the Simon Herbert saying - “Everyone is a designer who devises a course of action to change an existing situation to a preferred one.” The world needs more designers. We’re living in a radical VUCA era that needs sustainable solutions. More power to the emerging designers. You will change the world. Great podcast. Can’t wait to discover more.
Hi Jim, it's truly an honor to receive such kind words from an industrial designer with your level of experience. Thank you for providing much-needed context to this discussion. I love everything you've said here!
You have to make what marketers and the Chinese cant make, mechanically complex and aesthetically pleasing products with great branding. The simple products have too much competition unless your design is superior, but then it'll just be instantly replicated.
Another great and insightful video.
We're in a new renaissance of design. Not just ID but ALL design practices. During the first renaissance sciences, humanities, and arts were all blending together as scholars embraced a wide range of fields with deep curiosity. The age of industry has passed, the age of information is also now waning. Up next is the age of Insight - both emotional and intellectual. And the primary tool for understanding those areas is and will always be driven by human curiosity. This is not exclusive to designers, it will be important for all of us, but the designers will take those curious insights and connect them in ways that others might not yet see. Curiosity to Connection will the the core method to actualize the industrious skills of tomorrow.
As always, I could not agree more. Perhaps a long-form discussion is in order to get down to the specifics of this. What does a job look like in the age of insight? Does a job even really exist in this context (at least in the traditional sense)?
@@Design.Theory It's already starting to happen with more emphasis on Design Research and Strategy. If you dissect those words, research is re-searching (curiosity) and a big part of strategy is formulating connections that your competitors might not see. So in a way these areas are already informing the prototypical designer for the future. The industrial designer "job" of the future is going to rely heavily on investigation which I believe will blend curatorial practices in archival research of culture and object use, more cultural borrowing and blending, sensitivities to regional preferences and object dialects based on how different cultures process object value, and of course materials use with care towards ecosystem-market synergies, whereby markets for produce have uniquely targeted eco-cultural balance measures in place as part of product development and long-term market cycles.
@@Design.Theory it's called UX Design, there is a whole process of affinity wall mapping to gather insights and map out themes.
I know this is an older video but seeing the evolution of designers and tinkerers as business owners over the past few years has been an EXCELLENT shift both for consumers and sellers. I love designing unique products that aren't necessarily one-size fits all and knowing that being born in this time frame I get to do just that is super enticing and honestly in itself the biggest blast I've ever had as a designer.
I'm a packaging engineer. Yes we would appreciate collaboration with the product designers! For example they sent me a bathroom ceiling fan that was 13"x 13", a nightmare for any direction it would be packed out. But was too late to change that, he lost prob 20% off the pallet count
Excellent point. So many things that never go under consideration from an ID'ers perspective, and vice versa.
So glad I stumble upon your channel, you truly give a great perspective on what is like to be a Creative in current times! As a GenX person the rug was pulled from under our feet and here we are, so many of us are stuck in the past but we got to move forward. Thank you for all the great content and perspective you share in this wonderful channel, much success to you Mister!
Thank you for this video. I have a fascination with design systems and providing solutions through a well made cleanly designed product. I really want to major at Pratt for industrial design and this gives me somewhat confidence that I could still be in this field. Unfortunately, I am poor. Through Starbucks I’m mastering in ux and ui. From there I’d like to take out loans to go to Pratt. I will continue to watch your videos. Thank you again.
I think another way of looking at what your role in Industrial Design could be is by referring to Charles Handy's Shamrock Organisation model. He describes 3 parts of organisations, rhe first the creative core - the lot who come up with the ideas and get things completed. The second are people who are the contractors and technicians who specialise in an area of the process and brought in as and when needed - the rendering specialist or prototype makers are examples of this. The third are the consultants/experts who provide very high end specialist input into the process of creating something, in film making these are the actors, in design they could be a electronics engineer specialising in robotics. With technology advancements and blurring functional boundaries the question is where in the shamrock do you want to sit? If its technician then it's piece of a big pie but it can be a very good business.
Look at how Film industry is structured to understand how Industrial design has changed, which is in part driven by technology and on part by efficiency needs but good design is still good design and that requires talent and holistic thinking.
Thanks for having me on! Hope this starts some interesting discussions in our industry 👍🏻
I hope so too! Thanks for providing your critically important insights, Ryan.
As an industrial designer that started focusing on digital experiences in the mid 90s, I can +1 your thoughts. I also teach ID at the college level and share your hypothesis with students. Modern ID is a mindset and one that is open to solving for wicked problems, with the user at the center of it all. Thanks for this video!
Thank you for watching! I wholeheartedly agree with you.
I rarely do anything that could be called design, but I'm constantly dazzled by the subtle messages it conveys to us. Some really strong material here for anyone regardless of profession. Hybridization is going to happen to all of us. What do we want to turn into?
Great video! I started in ID in 1970. Amazing how much has changed in 51 years. Our first project was a waste can that did not require hands but couldn't use a foot pedal, either. I was watching the electronics in the video today. A far cry from my slide rule and graph paper renderings.😀
Oh wow! That's awesome. You must have such a rich understanding of all of these paradigm shift. Things have changed so much in my short career. I can't even imagine what it's been like over the past 50.
Man! you are really making me nervous! Being a kid who aspired to become an Industrial designer and end up as a Senior RnD engineer.... your videos always keep my mind Exploring, and always keeping me reminded that I have not even tasted a teaspoon full.. the grand ocean is still ahead. I feel that you are talking in my language of understanding. Thankyou for making such videos John
That's exactly right. It's like being on a boat in the ocean during a hurricane. You can either cower away and drown or defiantly stare uncertainty in the face and make something happen.
@@Design.Theory Rightly said..♥️
I reckon ID has always been about adaptability, may it be from the market, a company operational structure, or simply new material and even your brief itself. I'll remember one of my first boss about 15 years ago telling me that industrial design is all about turning a problem into a solution, and now more so than ever given the pace the market, the people, the society and technology evolve.
Congrats on starting a podcast! Hearing 'the end of ID' is so dooming, but it's relieving that the the end is just a transition into the new, and I figure we'll all be swept along with it eventually anyway.
Don't think of it as dooming. Think of it as an exciting new voyage.
Hey this is SPOT on and just what I was hoping you’d cover in you videos. I would love to hear more about specialization and really get into maybe even forecasting clever ways to use ID discipline . This gives me TONS of hope for the craft, as well as myself
More to come! Thank you for watching the videos and being one of the OG's on the channel! I think you were here before I hit 500 subs.
@@Design.Theory that's for sure, I've been watching your stuff for so long now. The quality of your videos is just climbing with every installment 🙏
I have been looking for these kind of contents . Thanks for sharing. And the audience here is awesome.
As an old Industrial Designer - I evolved into a UX Product designer, as this involves the same human centred design process. I’m now a UX Director for a EV company.
I agree that skills are now democratized. I never went to business or design school but I was able to learn how to design, prototype and manufacture my own products and them sell online under different brands. I launched my first patented product a few weeks ago and we've already sold 70 units to our target market. I'm now seeking to sharpen my design skills and create new products. Such a fun and exciting experience!
Congratulations! Selling your own products is so hard. I'm so happy to hear you're having success
Thank you for this. This video made me realize how much industrial design has crossover into the software design space. There are differences, sure, but software UI and UX at its core has a lot of the same fundamentals as industrial design does in the physical space. Hell, it seems like some of the tenants of industrial design can be used in less obvious places, from software architecture to business practices.
I absolutely love your videos. Im an ID student in wisconsin and it can be really difficult to get an idea of whats going on in the rest of the world where the field is really innovating
Brilliant! I am an Architect. My work has always been downstream of ID. Ideally today, architectural design is adjacent to and informing ID. This promise of mass customization or AI enabled prototyping has been kicked around for at least 20 years. I think it has finally arrived to the world of construction, but is still only at about 1% actualized. I see massive change on the near-term horizon in this huge, high stakes industry. I would love to see this topic explored in your series. The obstacles today are more about satisfying the motives of disparate project teams. Maybe less about ID per se. systems thinking at a high level.
I actually did a video exploring AI design tools. It's my most recent video. Check it out if you haven't already. Architecture tends to be way ahead of industrial design in terms of technologies used. I think it's because architecture is a little bit more academic in its approach, and therefore people spend a bit more time exploring possibilities rather than strictly sticking to what we know will work. Anyway, thank you for watching the video and providing your insights!
Amazing video ! As our generations retail habits are changing towards experience beyond the product. It’s time we account for where our products fit in the bigger picture(system).
Thank you for watching Gokul! One of the OG's!
Great video ! Thanks guys , I have been doing this for 35 years and every day is new exciting and keeps me keen and excited, my speciality is diversity, I have a very extensive workshop and run projects from concept to delivery. Over my career I have delivered more than 300 products and never worked on the same product twice! ID is not a job it is a lifestyle love the content looking forward to the next video :)
That is awesome! Thank you for watching :)
Great video. It’s not often that you find both style and substance in the one package, with tidy editing to boot. Subscribed!
Thank you for watching! Glad you liked it!!
Hi John, we are Asanka, furniture design studio from Indonesia. We are so happy to finally find your channel who explain product design in another level. There are so much to learn for us, especially regarding how to implement the product design principles in heterogenous culture of Indonesia. Hopefully we could have some discussion about it, or maybe you could give your perspective about such situation. Keep inspiring, John. *Forgive my horrible English.
Sure, I'm happy to help in any way that I can. Your English is great, by the way! Much better than my Indonesian :)
Wow! I love your content! Lately I was feeling lost, but this channel came to my life to clear me things up and motivate me to keep going, and start doing. Thanks!
You got this! I'm happy to help you in any way that I can :)
I've been pushing this modern systemic approach to design right from the beginning of my career (6-7 years ago) and found some interesting points which made me rethink is it that viable or not. 1st - getting deeper in merged areas like marketing or brand image steal time both yours and professionals who do this in client business. Even more so most of the time clients do listen to what designers introduce in this complex approach when presented not only a product but also a complex solution over brand, marketing, supply chains, etc. But not as common for this things to grow after final deliverables have been sent. Because from the start it is unusual to include in contract full-on support from design bureau (because it is expected from bureau to work on design, not "other" things on client money) it makes all this complex work kinda immature. Yes it helps and shows that designers did think and even found some new solutions. But especially for bigger manufacturers - they have long term plans and whole teams working on similar topics. 2nd - it is not uncommon to present your projects to middle-top management. And given the size of manufacturers - it is rare that this exact knowledge for business generated on design team side to be picked up by people who need it on client side to make it viable and to grow in client business. 3rd - you kinda spend your time on what may be "put into the table".
In all of that I see that it is best to grow your team with unique and experienced professionals in respected industries. If you would like to include marketing and branding in your design - use full force approach on this or make it like 1-minute-read-no more. There is a question how to generate salary for such colleagues tho. It is like hiring full time engineer to design team. Half of the time he may do nothing.
And the last thing. It is interesting that when you discuss and design things like brand / supply / image / marketing / etc surrounding the product, thinking about full product life cycle - it is not so common for me to meet people who 1st - think about that as hard as me 2nd - have experience in this kind of design 3rd - have a common knowledge with me so we can proceed forward with ease - it is more like uncanny knowledge now.
I know there are bureaus like IDEO and other human-centric designers, actually I am even jealous of their ability to work in interesting design approaches, but I find that most small to medium clients don't really look for this when they hire industrial designers. And it is sad. IMO majority of what ID do - is kinda blank and grounded work. Which is still important but those clients are kinda disconnected from this modern trends IMO.
great video! I think it is also largely affected by new management decisions, and how much design is no longer an isolated activity. Of course, Many legacy companies will take time to adapt but the newer companies are pushing design harder and its apparent that not only companies, but also academic institutions must adapt. I think how much you can learn on the internet are just playgrounds for any student.
thanks a lot for your information, is helpful because im study industrial design too, i hope you can make more videos to help ppl learn stuff easier
Thank you! More videos coming soon :)
I am not an industrial designer, I am a digital product designer. But what you say applies to my field as well and I think it's safe to assume, that multidisciplinary approach and systems thinking are steadily becoming the new foundation of every corner of design practice (including architecture). I think it's amazing we can witness this transition and the potential and the needs for this are huge.
Really quality content, man. Subscribed.
Thanks for watching :) I appreciate your thoughtful commentary. The world is definitely changing very quickly. I’m just trying to keep up ;)
@@Design.Theory And you are doing damn well job at keeping up! Would be interesting to hear your take at Design X. Will be looking out for your content, greetings from Czechia!
Thank You :) , intensive and valuable
Wow, I really needed to hear this video! I will definitely recommend it! Thank you
GREAT video, made me subscribe.
Releasing my first musical instrument product soon and watching this was perfect timing!
Thanks for the sub!
Great insights! Inspiring for me and also for my kids! Keep up the good work!
‘Fortune favors the Bold’ .. love it
Exactly! Get out there and do something. You got this!
Awesome video as always!!!
Thanks Nick! I appreciate all the support.
It's about adapting with extreme sustainable use
I agree. This will be a big part of industrial design. Thank you for sharing!
Thanks John...I was hoping that you would have included the emergence of Product Design that includes UX/UI which encapsulates a lot of the transition to systems and new frontiers for ID skill sets. This is really important for the next generation of wannabe hard goods designers. Many research universities have now implemented Product Design programs that are more technology and applied research in orientation. Many of these types of grads are now employed by large corporate entities and lack many of the traditional ID skill sets.
I'll probably do a separate video on that. In the longer interview with Ryan Hume, we actually did discuss that for a few minutes. I'll be posting that full-length interview in a couple of weeks.
Great video - new sub!
I'm graduating with my bachelor of product design this year, and boy is it an exciting but scary time nonetheless. The past 3 years of my degree has seen a massive shift in how the course is taught due to COVID, and sadly it's feeling like we're graduating with lesser skills than we should have. Regardless, I cannot wait to get out in the real world and follow my passion and hopefully make the positive impact I've always dreamt of making.
Can't wait for your future content!
You got this!
Great video @Design Theory.
Your done a great job.
Thank you! the topic raised here and your thoughts about it is really helpful and motivating
Thanks Iryna. Also I'm happy to help you with any of this stuff if you'd like.
Really nice video John, an honest blend of caution and optimism. I see a parallel with design projects as well; where more constraints (rigid, reliable path to "do ID") makes it easier to get started as it guides your creativity. Blue sky thinking can be very difficult, though it offers the greatest opportunity for innovation and disruption. Just as we're seeing the beginnings of a renaissance of non-traditional ID roles and career trajectories, broader industry acceptance for non-traditional ID education looks to be inevitable.
Thanks for the kind words as always, Kang Gaston. It's so important to be looking ahead to the next big innovation. That's what Loewy, Rams, and Eames did in their 20th century paradigm, after all.
Really love your content! Keep pushing my friend.
Thanks so much! I will continue to make content like this!
Thanks from Brazil! I was already thinking about that, and this just clicked it!
Thank you for watching!
BRUH. what an excellent surprise seeing the nave and the old CCA SF campus in a video. I was not expecting it. C/O 2008.
CCA represent!
Designed to the script 💪🏿✊🏿
Loving your work man, I don't speak english so well to express how much I appreciate it, but thank you
I appreciate that!
Systems Design Approach (SDA)has been in use far longer than is acknowledged. Any problem solving process involves taking information and transforming into useful criteria for definitive decisions. This skill and approach can be applied to a huge range of design challenges.
lt requires more collaborative and incliusive participation of all stakeholders as well as an openess to listen to different perpectives.
That 1961 radio honestly looks completely modern. I guess that's the point of this video? Still, I'm amazed.
John, this was so cool. Your videos are awesome man!
Glad you like them Nick!
That is peculiar that in talk about *Transition into a New Frontier* John not even mentioning sustainable design and personal minimalism. The former one is quite clear Reduce/Reuse/Recycle. The later one is a trend where people make a choice to get less stuff in general. Less is More! Or in industrial design terms. *Less Stuff, More Quality.* In a way it is also a sustainable strategy aiming to reduce the consumption.
That is on my list, don't worry! It was just too much to cover in one video.
gotta be honest chief, entering my final BA year in industrial design and i'm shitting my pants. The usual anxiety of getting out of college and securing my first job and now a change in industry? Gonna be a fun ride boys
I felt exactly the same way. It's normal. Just take the time to sharpen your skills. Be humble and don't assume any position is "beneath" you. Persistence will be rewarded. You got this!
@@Design.Theory thanks for the words of encouragement!
Anytime :)
I felt the same way in 1981. Chill. Relax. Be true to yourself. You can apply this training, these skills to so many areas beyond just the artifact. It’s systems thinking. It’s lateral thinking. It’s unbridled creativity. Be open. Experiment. Give and receive. Let yourself get knocked down. Get back up. Put up a fight. Don’t back down. Find/pursue your calling.
This is a great video! Thank you for sharing with us. I recently graduated as an Industrial Designer but feel like I am not up to the standard... it’s so scary
Glad it was helpful! Graduating can be incredibly overwhelming. Don't worry, though. If you feel like you're not up to the standard, identifying the problems is the first step towards improvement. You got this :)
Great video John! I find this very inspiring. Thank you.
Glad to hear it! I wanted to be balanced and objective about the future of industrial design, while also making people feel excited to move forward. I'm glad to hear that the video had that effect for you.
industrial designers know how to make things!
Who is this Tim Zarki guy and why does he keep appearing in your videos?
Great video, thanks for sharing the knowledge!
Glad it was helpful!
"advertising is dead", "industrial design is dead" "music busness is dead" Im starting to see a pattern here...
I mean, we're all gonna be dead eventually.
@@Design.Theory hahahah. Sadly. But all the sides of my reality, the things I like or study face that "truth". Rock is dead. "Pop is dead". "The skyscraper is dead" "suburbia" "radio" "television" "the MCU" "Moore's law" and everything. The electric car is dead, because batteries are bad and there no tithium, or the hydrogen car cause the recharging places are sooo expensive to build.
I'm not sure why, but everything is "dead". Antibiotics. Amazonas, economical growth and society as we know it. The office as workplace.
It's like our new mantra. It's not a critic at your work wich I love! It's a thing I want to bring here and think about it. Marketing is dead too.
Everything feels so Loki these days.
It's not Industrial Design is dead or any other design disciplines are dead. I think we're just approaching a new era of doing things after the advent of internet and the rapidly growing production technology obtained in the last few decades. So many things supposed to be only happened in a scifi movie are now easily be found in everyday life.
It's about saturated mediums: advertising is out-of-touch and devoid of creativity ( I studied it in university) pop music is repetitive, and industrial design is reminiscent of the totalitarian rule with the poor quality and pure dread that come with organised poverty: those who lived it - don't miss it.
wow this realñly open my mind , im studing industrial desing and i whant to create more funcional ergonomic and efficient products just becouse i suffered many unconfortable cituacion whith many thing like cars , headphones, yust for mention some.i´s really good this video .regards from San Juan Argentina
In the words of Brick from Anchorman, 'I love lamp.'
I LOVE LAMP
@@Design.Theory Hahaha but really though, your organic, procedurally designed lamps are beautiful.
The sad thing about this new normal of "always be learning" paradigm is that class privilege can and will put some people disproportionately ahead. If developing a specialization takes 2000 hours of learning and practice, a trust fund kid who doesn't need to work can accomplish it in a year of dedicated work but if you work an unrelated job full-time and trying to break into the industry, you'll have to sacrifice a lot and still accomplish the same level of practice in two years or more.
Now imagine doing this all the time. I started UX design with a more fortunate friend of mine and 3 years in, they have 5x more personal projects under their belt and their portfolio is a lot nicer. We did a daily practice routine together and their results were consistently more eye-candy because I'd spend an hour or two after work and they'd spend 4-5 hours because they worked part time from home for a family member and didn't have to pay rent as their place was inherited.
I know it's been like this forever but now more than ever, to find your own path you need to spend time and not everyone has time. It's not just class position; having kids or a sick parent takes time too. I don't know the solution and have come to terms with the fact that it is what it is but damn.
Yeah. I don't have an answer for this. It's a really tough situation. If you ever want portfolio feedback you can always reach out to me. It's not going to solve these larger macro-trends regarding society and class privilege, but it's something.
Brilliant conversation !!
It was a fun one for sure!
This was very motivating. I've honestly took a break from ID because of the giant that is Product & UX was exhausting to hear about. But yeah, I still want to be an Industrial Designer. Specialization does sound like something I'd want to look into.
hey travis this might sound a bit superficial. but imagine the lifestyle you would like to have in your 30's and check the average salaries for entry level, jr, snr UX designer and industrial designer. only then decide. I believe coroflot has such info
Not sure I agree 100 percent. Online clothes, boots, shoes don't fit probably half of the customers. You need a tryon to see what it looks or feels like. Retail audio shops have almost disappeared and it is a crap shoot whether what you order is going to sound good to you and as a result most people do not know what good sound is any more. Much of us depend on someone else's opinion on youtube who is flogging a brand that is supplying him with product. I don't this much of this new "variety" is necessarily good.
It’s not always good, but change is inevitable. Any problem is an opportunity to do something new.
Great interview!
The age of the niche market is apon us, there will be many opportunities for people to make themselves highly skilled in interconnected skillsets that will make you very sought after and valuable.
'The person monopoly'
David Perell/ Naval Ravikant speak on this in greater detail.
I will have to give that a look. I've heard of Naval, but never David Perell. I've never really read very much of either of them. Thank you for providing this additional context!
ID here from Europe. My university is already very progressive in the things we are taught. so progressive in fact that I fear I haven't learned enough of the classic ID. this video gives me confidence that my skills are needed. but unfortunately I haven't found the agencies and companies that are already up to that level. so I'm mad at my university for preparing me for something that doesn't exist yet. Will what i was taught be useful at all? very confusing situation.
Hmmmm. My advice would be to learn the technical skills on your own time and continue onward in the program. That will make you very competitive for the job market. Honestly, the technical skills are time consuming and challenging to learn, but anyone can do it. Teaching someone to think about design holistically is MUCH more challenging though. So if you can already do that, you're in good shape. Just focus on the technical skills over summer and winter breaks.
In conclusion, I’m going back to watching industrial design videos. People want personalised products, big companies can’t compete here, it’s generally a positive environment, And modern design programs make it much easier to to design
Great job bro!
Id love to see a update on this with all the AI tools happening. I feel and see a lot of fear around it. I think its going to change the ideation process, and maybe even some digital processes.
Could anlalyze about onewheel desgns? Especially between onewheel pint and onewheel XR. Pint is more like a consumer, entry-level product. While XR is a flagship, more engineering-centric. I would love your insight on the changes they made from XR to pint. Thanks for your vids always!
Excellent discussion. And Ryan is awesome!
Ryan is a genius.
You are amazing, thank you. Greetings from Turkey
YOU are amazing. Thank you for watching and greetings from California, USA!
Very true, any domain has its own flow with the advancement in technology,, change is option we have and you have shown some those options in the vedeo.. thank you so much.. as "Sir Darwin's theory of survival of the fittest"..
Thank you for watching. I think there are some massive opportunities for those willing to make some changes in their skillset, and more importantly their mindset.
@@Design.Theory True, with the open mindset, seeing with perceiving the things with through the lenses of opportunity would definitely add values in our career, Thank you so much again. Good day.
Holy f**k dude! This is inspiring as hell!! Thanks!!! Keep the the wonderful work!
Thanks a ton!
I enjoy the content thank you. ❤
Great insight. Thanks for the video.
Glad you enjoyed it!
Love your videos!
I agree with how easy it is to learn KeyShot for rendering, but learning proper surface modelling is still a skill which takes much longer. Is Sub-D NURBS making that easier though? Maybe.
Sub D modeling doesn't really replace surface modeling in my opinion. You don't have the same control over the surface transitions. Maybe in the future it will, though.
Surface modeling is not as important as it used to be because everything is just a rounded rectangle these days. That trend may change, though.
@@Design.Theory I think if you see the transitions happening in surface modelling in automotive design where Sub-D is becoming standard process it will come to Industrial Design in the same way. Anyway, my point was more than KeyShot is a bit of an anomoly because it is so ridiculously easy to learn, more than other skills and knowledge. Things are definitely all becoming easier and free learning content more available, but KeyShot is not a good baseline example.
@@Vanastarr I would say you are generally correct. Many of the skills are highly technical and difficult to learn. But compare the amount of sketching tutorials online now compared to 10 years ago (there were very few, or maybe even none). The skills are still hard to learn. But they are still significantly easier to learn compared to any time in the past.
@@Design.Theory Yeah, I agree. Compare it to even 3 years ago and things have boomed so fast it is unbelievable.
Really enjoyed this video. Thank you.
Glad you enjoyed it! I had a lot of fun thinking about it and making it
Where is the link to the podcast with Ryan Hume? Was really looking forward to listening to it
this was an awesome video!
Yay! Thank you!
Great insights and recommendations - as always!
Meow.
Great video and content!
Appreciate it!
As an aside, it seems natural that spectacle frames would be customised, but we’ve managed for hundreds of years with a few standard sizes. I think once an optometrist slightly bent the bridge of the frame of my glasses, a process that took 5 seconds. So is the customisation just an unnecessary marketing thing?
It's an interesting question. I'm not sure if there's really a definitive answer.
Thank you 🙏🏻
Thank YOU for being one of the original subscribers :)
Excellent
Ha, I studied under Rahms in Hamburg.
He was always drunk, and we had to knock on his door and wait for ever for him to sober up, to at least open his door for us students. the legacy and the actual man .......
he is not drunk he is just german
@@puertousbmonkeyNow that's a really clever joke, congrats !
That is what a sigma male looks like. Congratulations on meeting the MAN.
@@UlexcoolNice guy but made me feel sad around him.
Hey bro great video. I would love to check out that podcast link if you managed to work it out. Cheers.
Great content!
Thanks Reiten. You're the man. Thank you for the support over the last year or so
@@Design.Theory Hey John...I couldn't even describe how much did I benefit from learning all the things regarding ID career and skills from you and this channel that I wouldn't learn from the school.
I wouldn't be remotely the same as who I am right now if I didn't come across this channel. Keep up with the good work.
Thank you Reiten. You're awesome. I am grateful to have the privilege to teach students like you, even if it is from a great distance. I'm excited to see your continued career growth.
I’ve never met a group of people more eagerly ready to announce their own discipline is dead or dying more than industrial designers. I’m not sure why this is but they are wrong. ID will always evolve and adjust with new materials, manufacturing, logistics, marketing and purchasing trends and the fact will always remain that really good design will matter. The idea that because Keyshot is easy to learn and get ahold of, everyone can be a designer is incredibly naive and clearly untrue. That’s like saying, “Since everyone can afford markers, everyone can become a good rendering artist.” It just dismisses too many inherent talents and developed skills that are still required to achieve good design. ID is not dead, it’s just always changing. This is not news.
I generally agree with you. However, the barrier to entry around learning technical skills is significantly lower and there is no denying that. Your marker analogy is a bit off though. It has less to do with the markers being available and more to do with the unprecedented access to information and a much more streamlined workflow.
EDIT: One more thing. Of course knowing keyshot doesn't make you a good designer. But the ability to execute 20 renderings in the time it took to make 1 using traditional methods certainly allows you to progress more quickly.
I'm currently studying to be in the field of Wearable Technologies like what you've done, but focused on the whole body as an ecosystem. Where to take my ideas has seriously been overwhelming to say the least because of the insane amount of options, traditional industrial design is definitely not the case anymore like you said, so the modern and future approach is looking more open to different platforms especially software based. I'm just asking if it's a good idea to do both physical and software based design as an avenue to look at? Also great video!
Well I think ultimately it's up to you. This is just my opinion and I don't have a crystal ball that will tell us the future. But I think that investing time in both hardware and software would be incredibly valuable.
In some countries Industrial Design pretty dead. Just because there are not so much industries who make anything. So it is interesting to hear from the professor in the country where ID is pretty much alive that "ID is dead" :)
I agree with some of this, but not all. Saying large multi-nationals can't compete with smaller companies under cutting them assumes they are selling an identical product. They rarely do. The percentages in this regard have stayed exactly the same since the 1970s.
I think what this video explains is the entire design process, not industrial design (IMO). An industrial designer is responsible for a fraction of what is described on here. If you work for a design consultancy or brand worth their salt (and value design/engineering), they will have a/or many systems engineers. Systems thinking is part of ID, but you won't be the owner of the systems design, it's highly likely a systems engineer (with a 4-5 degree in systems engineering) will be running the show. Don't let this video scare you :) ID hasn't changed that much...I've been doing it for blue chip constantly and brands for over 30yrs now. This video really just talks about the tools at your disposal and not the fundental process. The double diamond will always be your friend 🤗
Your professor was sort of right in the sense that a traditional ID job in America where you could get hired at a design firm just doing ID was a possible path to a career. Design firms like that have been steadily going out of business, but not why you think. Not because there is less of a demand, the truth is they have moved overseas. Most products in America are made in China. So what a lot of those companies started doing about +10 years ago is offering the design for free as a package deal for them to make the product. This basically killed most of the design firms in the US. Traditional ID is still being done, but now it's part of manufacturing and less about design offices.
I would say that the skillset is being vertically integrated. That can be on the manufacturing side, or it can be within the actual company. Many companies are just hiring in-house full-time teams. This doesn't leave much room for design firms.
@@Design.Theory You are probably right, I think design firms are on their way to becoming a relic of the past. However, not sure that's a good thing. A big design firm has hundreds of years of collective knowledge and a lot more resources. Also, being employed by the firm you are designing for is a double edged sward. You might have more freedom to own your design, but you also are at the whim of that company. For example an Architect who works in a firm has the power behind him to tell the client his demands will result in something truly awful and can even turn the work away. An Architect who is employed by a developer has to do what he wants or lose his job. Generally speaking most developers have only one thing in mind, fast and cheap. A a result, they typically force their designers to produce what usually looks like schlock.
Yeah, I'd say there are pros and cons to each. But companies are typically on a path towards ruthless efficiency. Vertical integration of various job functions is one way to achieve that. There will always be a need for outside consultants. I just think they will play a smaller role. Your can still influence change from the inside of an organization as a full time in house designer. In some ways it's actually easier than being an outsider
Great 🎉
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wow does anyone know which product this is?
Teenage Engineering OP-1 Synthesizer