Since beginning my undergraduate education, I’ve built many of the typical “engineering” skills that most mechanical engineering students have, from CAD modeling to 3D printing to coding and electronics. Outside of the classroom, I’ve taken some classes and built skills in entrepreneurship and marketing, which I hope will help me towards my ideal career path. My dream job would be to run my own product design consulting business, or working on Kickstarter-type innovative products.
In this class, I think the principles of design will help me, as industrial design is a large part of the consumer product design process. If it’s ugly, nobody will want to buy it. Evoking emotion and desire to use the product can sometimes be as important, if not more, than the functionality of the product itself. Some low-fidelity prototypes can be just as effective as fully functional ones.
What I would like to do to help with this class and my aspirations is learn a CAD program that is more organic surface-based, like Rhino or zBrush. That would help me to truly create some products like the ones that I see around every day, that aren’t all defined by parametric dimensioning, and allow for a more natural aesthetic.
Photo credits:
15 Reasons Why Studying Industrial Design is A Good Option For Youhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhinoceros_3D
3 Comments. Leave new
Chris, your broad mechanical engineering knowledge base seems very applicable to your goal of a career centered around product design. You have the functional base and now you are working on developing the aesthetic knowledge and business mindset to create marketable products. Good to see that you have an understanding of what tools you need to work towards your career goals. It looks like we have very similar goals with different backgrounds.
Hi Chris, I agree that aesthetic design in most cases is more important than the functionality of the device itself. I don’t use Rhino but I believe it will be helpful to learn it and add it to your skills list. Good Luck! I’m glad that I’m your teammate and I look forward to working with you.
Chris, I see that you want to learn how to use programs like Rhino to create some more organic shapes. Feel free to reach out to me, I can definitely help you with some of the tools in the program as well as some fun coding in Rhino.