"Industrial product design is not only focused on the manufacturing and creation of products, it is more like a bridge discipline; industrial product designers are like planners compared with product manufacturers." Today, our interviewee is Mr. Liu, who graduated from Coventry University, UK, majoring in industrial product design. Britain has developed industrialization and is the first country in the world to set up industrial design, so industrial product design education has rich experience and mature theory. So, what is industrial product design? Is the design of industrial products different at home and abroad?

Miss Liu

Coventry University Products/Industrial Design

Mr. Liu, who graduated from Hubei University of Technology majoring in animation with a bachelor's degree, later worked as an animator in Beijing Xingxing Digital Entertainment Technology Co., Ltd., participated in the production of the animation Secret Millionaires Club, and later worked as an art director in Beijing Yisu Co., Ltd. Mr. Liu started to learn industrial product design by himself in 15 years, and completed the application for studying abroad Coventry University During the study period, the offer of industrial product design involved a wide range of product design types, including vehicle design, high-tech product design and small product design, and found his talent in education. After graduation, he returned to China, devoted himself to the work collection counseling, and aspired to be a member of the team of natural light, Help domestic students with artistic talents and design ambitions apply to top universities.

Coventry is a famous industrial city in Britain. The whole city is like a big factory. It gathers major industries such as automobile, electronics, machinery, aerospace components and communication equipment. In this environment, Coventry University's industrial product design direction is second to none. It has been rated as one of the top ten design schools in the world by the British Industrial Design Association, and has established cooperation with many well-known enterprises around, such as Lego, Dyson, Jaguar, Land Rover, etc.

What kind of influence has Mr. Liu, who once lived in such an industrialized city and graduated from the industrial product design major in Coventry, suffered here? Product design experience involves vehicle design, high-tech product design and small product design. What understanding of industrial design has he accumulated in practice? Let's have a look.

Miss Liu: Industrial product design is a comprehensive practical discipline, which aims at industrial products, and carries out research, understanding and creation. It covers a wide range of electronic product design, home design, daily necessities design and vehicle design. However, it is different from other engineering disciplines such as mechanical engineering. The difference is that industrial product design is not only focused on product manufacturing and creation. It is more like a bridge discipline. Industrial product designers are more like planners than product manufacturers. We combine more science and technology, such as materials science, ergonomics and aerodynamics, with anthropology and sociology, and provide users with more possibilities according to their needs and preferences.

Industrial product design is a profession that optimizes the function, value and appearance of products and systems. At first it sounds like an engineering major, as if you must deal with large-scale machinery.

However, industrial product design is actually a multidisciplinary design discipline, which is not only limited to the machinery in our mind, but also applicable to many fields, from trains and cars to toothpicks and pencils.

Therefore, the definition of design works produced by this specialty depends on the most basic point: it can meet industrial production.

Take the common product classification in our daily life as an example. The first products to wear accessories include earphones, watches, glasses, helmets, sports bracelets, etc.

The mouse, light bulb, kitchenware and scissors that are used at any time in daily life; Sofas, chairs and appliances used in household and decoration; Blood pressure devices, wheelchairs and instruments in health care; The transportation tools are better understood, such as the cars and trains frequently used in our daily life, and the innovative new transportation tools, which are all created by industrial product designers.

It is different from the engineering department responsible for manufacturing, installation, application and maintenance of mechanical engineering. The main work of industrial product designers is to conduct product research, determine the design concept, product performance and production process of products; Draw concept maps and renderings, and determine the selection of materials; Make samples and understand the process cost; Evaluate the feasibility of product production, solve technical problems in production, etc.

Therefore, if you want to complete a successful industrial design product, the complete process includes user research, market analysis, target group positioning, design style positioning, etc. in the early stage, and then to the later stage, product modeling design, structural design, 3D drawing and engineering drawing output are required.

So we can see from it that the biggest difference between industrial product design and other engineering disciplines such as mechanical engineering is that industrial product design pays more attention to market, user group, product modeling, and product concept.

　　 Miss Liu: At present, the core of industrial product design in China tends to focus on product shape design and product manufacturing. Therefore, when domestic students study industrial product design, they tend to focus on making more cool renderings and more sophisticated and complex models. However, the teaching of product design abroad is biased towards the understanding of the future development trend of products and the needs of human society.

Students who study design have probably heard a lot of "people-oriented" design concepts in recent years, because people's demand for goods is not subjective and is not disturbed by external factors. With the development of technology, we are constantly upgrading our demand for products, including a large number of interactions between human beings and technology.

People, design and sociology are increasingly linked. Disciplines such as humanities and social sciences, sociology and human mechanics in our cognitive system will intersect with design, and design has become a multidisciplinary subject.

Many boring designs are superficial, because it is difficult to do well and deeply in design. It requires designers to trace the source, explore the principles behind people's behavior from behind the appearance combined with various disciplines, point out the problems that users cannot explain clearly like detectives, and then solve these problems through design experience, innovative thinking and comprehensive consideration.

Our current convenient life comes from designers' observation and thinking of things. For example, in a book on economics, the author mentioned a question: why is the soda pop can designed as a cylinder, but the milk packaging box designed as a square?

This is because people are used to drinking in the original container of the beverage. The buyers of carbonated drinks usually need a sense of pleasure. The cylindrical shape is more comfortable to hold, which can enhance the pleasure of consumers. Milk needs to be kept fresh. In order to reduce the transportation time, it is often packed in boxes. Square can save space and facilitate transportation. These details of life that we are accustomed to are the products of designers after thinking.

This kind of design thinking and insight are also the characteristics of students most desired by foreign universities. Of course, in education, it also focuses on cultivating students' ability to observe and analyze social problems. about Studying Abroad in Industrial Product Design If you have other things you want to know, please come to Natural Light for free consultation.

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