What the F*&% is Product Design?

Week 1: Module outline week, having a four-hour lecture timetabled was less than exciting. I show up to class and sit into the room, the same as everybody else. Up on the screen is the agenda for the coming weeks in the module. The first thing on the list, that days class topic, "What the F*&% is Product Design?". I immediately started laughing in astonishment that swearing would be included in a college presentation (even if it was censored). Or was I laughing at the question itself? Surely as a student in the course I would know what product design was… Right??

In all seriousness I really hadn’t a clue what it was or what it meant to me, and I felt quite overwhelmed, thinking that I knew what was going on just moments before entering the class.

Thinking was a thing I did a lot during this class, and I suspect it will be a continuing theme throughout the module. We were faced with questions like, "Is Product Design more Art or Engineering?", “What is good/ bad design?”, “How do you explain to people what you do?” This left me in somewhat of an existential crisis, not quite knowing where I stood in relation to any of the answers.

This was especially true for; “Is Product Design more Art or Engineering?" As much as I might have wanted to be on the fence or hang in the balance somewhere in-between, it was not allowed. You might expect that the room was divided, and you would be correct. While we as a class hashed it out Artists vs Engineers, good and bad points flying back and forth, I became aware of where the lecturers were in relation to us. They were stood in the middle of the room while we were split to either side, Artists on one Engineers on the other. For the exercise it made sense not to allow people into the middle ground, but it was the conclusion we arrived at that design falls somewhere in the middle of the scale from Art to Engineering. In my opinion design isn’t so much on the scale as it is a third ‘box’ if you will. Where you might position this ‘box’ is very much subjective, to me it encompasses both art and engineering among other disciplines. You could also liken design to the lecturers in my class, standing in the middle but presiding over all.

When you bring the concept of good and bad design into the equation, there are several arguments that can be made from any given point of view. Good and bad design are very subjective notions. What I might think is an unusable product might be what makes somebody’s life easier. Often what we take into consideration as consumers when evaluating a product is extremely surface level. This was highlighted to me by Diarmaid (one of the lecturers) when he joined the group I was in for our discussion of well-designed vs badly designed products.

UE Wonderboom

The product I had brought in was the UE Wonderboom speaker. In my opinion it is an example of good design. I hadn’t really put much thought into it and said something along the lines of; “it looks good, it does what it is supposed to and its waterproof. I have dropped it a few times and it still works.” Overall a very bland and not very ‘designerly’ (I am making up words now :/) approach to describing the product. This was a very lack-lustre description following on from what Diarmaid had described. He brought an old typewriter, but not just any typewriter. It was the ‘Valentine’ from Olivetti. The first of an era of mobile typewriters fitting into its carry case, a very non-descript red box. Once removed from the box, it was obvious what it was, but what we didn’t realize or failed to comprehend was the attention to detail that went into the design. From the shape of the body of the machine to the protruding logo. Every aspect of the valentines’ design challenged preconceived notions of what a typewriter or anything within it should be.

Valetine - Olivetti

Through this class I have re-discovered what it means to look at things with curiosity, to see things that others would take for granted or completely overlook. I can’t wait to find out where I will be at the end of this semester, as I am already in a much better place than I was before, because only now reflecting back on what happened in the class, is it confirmed in my head that I am in the right course.