Is Industrial Design the Right Fit?
Why am I drawn to industrial design? This past March, I attended a lecture hosted by Grove City College’s chapter of AIGA in which Ryan Hammond spoke on Critical Making. As he introduced the different fields of design, Ryan quoted Herbert Simmons, saying, “Everyone designs who devises courses of action aimed at changing existing situations into preferred ones.” We interact with objects everyday without considering the intention and consideration put into crafting them. For example, shopping baskets are designed to be filled, stacked, and carried comfortably. Every physical object we interact with was once in the care of an industrial designer. Hold on, I thought to myself, that’s it, that’s what I want to do.
In general terms industrial design, or product design, is a discipline where a product is created in order to meet a need. Jessica Lascar puts it best in her article What is Product Design? “It’s about the entire process of creating usable products and experiences, starting by defining real people’s problems and thinking about possible solutions. That will eventually lead to the best design”.
Wait, Let me Deliberate
My AHA moment in Ryan’s lecture stands out to me because I hardly ever reach any satisfying conclusions without deliberation. Recently I completed the Clifton Strengths Finder assessment and among my top five qualities was deliberative. Jeremy Pietrocini, on the Gallup Theme Thursday podcast, describes the deliberative theme as “Awareness and sensitivity to risk” and uses other adjectives such as conscientious, serious, and cautious.
My sophomore year, I found myself president of the Association of Women Students, an organization on campus tasked with providing events on campus for women that foster community and recreation. My deliberative nature allowed me to support my group by assessing the risks to our events’ success. Small problems like a lack of garbage cans or greeters at an event negatively affect the guests’ experience. In accordance with Lascar’s definition of product design, I was able to keep in mind the entire process of the experience to ensure the event ran smoothly.
I’ll Get this Done
Another of my Clifton Strengths is responsibility. “Your responsibility theme forces you to take psychological ownership of anything you commit to,” states Clifton Strengths for Students, “when assigning new responsibilities, people will look to you first because they know it will get done. Pietrocini believes those with the responsibility theme have a strong sense of duty, ownership, and servitude. As president of AWS, I held many responsibilities.
The “get it done” attitude served me well as president. I was very good at checking off boxes and keeping things running. I did not realize until my second term, however, that in leaning into my responsibilities to the group, I was neglected all the other women on campus. I was responsibly deliberative of the course of action that was best for AWS when I should have been deliberative because of my responsibility to the female student body.
Intentional Design, when Deliberative and Responsibility Meet
Lately, designers have failed in the same way by focusing on what they are capable of doing instead of why they are doing it. The foundation of product design (and really any function of design) must be defining a real person’s problem. In her article What are Ethics in Design, Victoria Sgarro explores design’s role in society. An automatic soap dispenser, when designed without considering the broad range of user skin tones, can exclude and put down people.
I want to be a product designer because I want to be intentional in my work. Industrial design isn’t just about aesthetics or problem solving or even a mixture of the two. Designers have a responsibility to take a person’s existing situation and improve upon it. This process, also, should not be rushed. With caution, designers will avoid risks that threaten their users’ well-being. Making the world a better place a noble pursuit for industrial designers with intention.
