The rise in the number of courses in product designing means that there are several job opportunities in this field. So, if you are aware of the requirements of society and have an understanding of the lifestyle trends, marketing and branding then a career in this sector will be lucrative, says Sanjay Saxena
Product design is an awe-inspiring merger of art, science and technology. Practically each product that you see around you or use during your lifetime is created by a product designer. The safety pin, the chair, the key board of your system, the I-phone, the blackberry, the tooth brush, the door handle, the surgeon’s scalpel, the interior and exterior of a car etc. have all been created by product designers.
In India, with the opening up of the market economy and liberalisation, design has become a very crucial domain. India is one of the largest markets in the world. The Indian middle classes are one of the largest consumers in world. This has made other countries to look at India as a large market ready to be explored. Global multinationals are selling their products here.
The products of Indian companies face tough competition with global MNCs that employ the best technologies, qualities and better aesthetics and are cheaper too. This made the Indian companies change their strategies from technology of products to design of products.
To survive in the global competition both the industry and economy generates need for designers who have international outlook and sensitivity to local requirements with aspirations to take forward these requirements to the markets. Designers for this reason are anticipated to bring about innovative changes and fresh vision for the industry.
A product designer is a specialised professional who creates aesthetically appealing and innovative, user friendly products which are functional too. Therefore, product designers need to have an extensive understanding of diverse subjects like lifestyle trends, branding, marketing, types of materials, manufacturing processes etc. An extremely important characteristic of this discipline is ergonomics relating to comfort of human interface with the product. Moreover product designers should continually be aware of the requirements of the society with great sensitivity to its cadence, influence and its regional and spiritual ethos.
Product designers are centric to definite areas like automobiles, consumer electronics, interior products, medical equipment etc. However, as their skills are transferable and they can also work for many other related disciplines, such as: Electronics products, lifestyle products, industrial products, automotive products, ergonomics, product design management, product design manufacturing, furniture design, storage units.
The necessity for professionally qualified product designers has become indispensable with the globalisation of the market. A number of multidisciplinary design institutions have come forward to fill in this void. The aim of the schools should be to train professional product designers who are not only deep rooted in product knowledge but have also a universal perspective. To achieve this institutes develop multidisciplinary curriculum and environments.
To be a professional product designer students need to go through such programmes. All good multidisciplinary design schools offer diploma and advance diplomas. The duration of the Diploma product design programme is of two years. This programme is essential to develop the aesthetic sensitivity, attitudes and sensorial skills which are necessary for specialisation. In the study of product design in addition to the study of design, technology, ergonomics etc, subjects like history of design, information theory and computer aided designs etc are also a part of the studies.
Organisations prefer to employ product designers after a diploma of two year duration along with minimum three months hands on exposure at corporate level. Product designers receive good initial salaries after graduation. In fact, the bandwidth of compensation earned by product designers can be substantial and highly profitable.
(The writer is head of operation AD the Design School)