WEEK 1: WHAT IS PRODUCT DESIGN?
- Joe Breen
- Feb 1, 2020
- 3 min read
Updated: May 5, 2020
In our first Contemporary Design Culture lecture, one of the main topics was 'What The F*&% Is Product Design?'. We had to ask ourselves the question ‘Is it art or is it engineering?’.
Product Design is defined as; ‘The process of imagining, creating, and iterating products that solve users’ problems or address specific needs in a given market'. (1)
Art is defined as; ‘A diverse range of human activities of human activities in creating visual, auditory or performing artefacts (artworks), expressing the author’s imaginative, conceptual ideas, or technical skill, intended to be appreciated for their beauty or emotional power’. (2)
Engineering is defined as; ‘The creative application of scientific principles to design or develop structures, machines, apparatus, or manufacturing processes, or works utilizing them singly or in combination; or to construct or operate the same with full cognizance of their design; or to forecast their behavior under specific operating conditions; all as respects an intended function, economics of operation and safety to life and property’. (3)
Product design contains a combination of both areas, but I personally think that design is more related to art. This is because product design is based on creativity, which fits in better with art rather than engineering. For example, in relation to the picture below, if I asked both an artist and an engineer to “draw me a square”, both drawings would be different. The engineer’s drawing would be simple, plain and drawn with a rule, hence the 90-degree angles clearly marked. Whereas, the artist’s drawing would also be simple, but would show some creativity, which can be shown in the picture below.
We had to debate whether we thought product design is more art or engineering. We all got to decide which side we wanted to debate. We were asked to go to one side of the room if we thought product design is more art or to go to the other side of the room if we thought product design is more engineering.
Both sides of the debate made very strong points to support their side of the argument. The main points for the argument are as follows; Art is the main element of product design because it is used to show us what the product looks like, how it works, what color it is, and that art involves us using our creativity. Also, engineering is more related to product design because it is a Bachelor of Science and Engineering course, and that this course includes maths, technology, and engineering related modules.
In the end, I found the first lecture in this module very interesting, regarding the topics discussed and the exercises carried out. It really helped me discover which area of product design I can see myself pursuing in the future, and I’m looking forward to seeing what we’ll be doing in this module next.
References:
1. ProductPlan (n.d.) 'Product Design' [website] (Accessed 4th April 2020); https://www.productplan.com/glossary/product-design/
2. MyEnglishPages (n.d.) 'Reading Comprehension - What is Art?' [website] (Accessed 4th April 2020); https://www.myenglishpages.com/site_php_files/reading-what-is-art.php
3. ScienceDaily (n.d.) 'Engineering' [website] (Accessed 4th April 2020); https://www.sciencedaily.com/terms/engineering.htm
Picture References:
Kwantlen Polytechnic University (2015) 'What Is Product Design?' [YouTube video , screenshot of 0:06] (Accessed 29th January 2020);
Antit!nkerbell (2019) 'Draw Me A Square' , Twitter [social media post] (Accessed 29th January 2020);
Believe me, I am an "Engineer" (2018) 'Artist vs Engineer' , Facebook [social media post] (Accessed 29th January 2020);
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