Ron Sully01.12.07
For Industrial Designers, It’s No Longer Over When the Ink Dries
Ron Sully
Omnica Corporation
Industrial designers may not be the most obvious variable in the medical device product cycle, but they are critical to the development of new medical products. All design firms have them on staff, and they often are responsible for the entire output of some product development firms. Industrial designers historically specify colors, shapes, ergonomics and other aspects of aesthetics and usability, but things have changed.
Unless the firm in question is solely involved in feasibility or research and development, industrial designers usually are the first people to start work on a project. In today’s design world, their role has expanded beyond initial concepting and overall device appearance. Now, designers must take in to account such variables as material selection and real-world constraints to work within the framework of design for manufacture—activities that formerly were only addressed by mechanical engineers. In more progressive companies, designers “build” ideas with the same CAD programs used by mechanical engineers. Using similar tools helps ensure that the two groups can work together more closely. This level of familiarity and competence allows the industrial designers to stay involved in post-concept work for a much longer period.
Recent interviews with three colleagues—all industrial designers at Omnica Corp.—revealed some insight into their role in product development. Following are excerpts of the conversations with these individuals.
1. In addition to concepting products with pen-and-ink drawings and CAD programs, in what other aspects of product development are you involved?
Tim Payne: Until they actually work with an industrial design firm, people are not aware of our role as a catalyst that brings together design, engineering, marketing and manufacturing. We have to work well in team situations and have a broad knowledge of current technologies. Part of that is having the ability to communicate our ideas to clients, who can’t easily visualize a three-dimensional object from a two-dimensional drawing or CAD model. Another aspect of our job is to be familiar with different manufacturing processes and to suggest appropriate materials.
Andy March: We don’t just work at the computer. We do a lot more modelmaking than people realize, and we have to be familiar with a wide range of hand tools and feel comfortable operating many of the machines at the facility. Some projects we model in wood, foam and metal with machinery such as vertical mills, a waterjet, laser cutter, rapid prototyping machines and, of course, woodworking tools. One day we could be designing, and another time we could be in the metal shop, the molding room or in the spray booth.
2. Once hired by a client, you’re on the clock from the start and don’t have the luxury of time to start producing. How do you prime the design process and get the ideas flowing soon after you receive an assignment?
Scott Conway: Clients usually will give us some input at the start of the process and, at that point, for me form usually follows function. With that in mind, pencil and paper is the quickest way to find a direction. I talk with other team members and usually sketch some ideas, and think about how the item may be used and manufactured. If I get stuck, I’ll get input from someone else or research similar products and see how other people approached the problem. We sometimes bring together our engineers and the client’s marketing people so they can give us a better understanding of the requirements and constraints of a project.
Tim: The design process actually starts before any specific tasks are assigned—at the first project team meeting, where we discuss details, requirements and goals. That’s where we do initial brainstorming and get feedback from the client’s team, since these people generally are more familiar with the specifics of their particular industry and market. I am always sketching. It’s a great way to communicate with others, and it’s a way to generate a number of design solutions that address the big picture and important details. When I can’t come up with any ideas, I temporarily move on to other challenges. When I approach the same problem at a later time, I’ll be able to attack it from a fresh and different viewpoint.
3. Do you ever unintentionally introduce favorite design elements into other projects? How do you avoid following a particular train of thought that might cause you to overlook an obvious or more elegant design solution?
Andy: Because design is always evolving, you are trained to be aware and not to create the same thing you have done in the past. For designers, it’s a personal challenge to push the limits of your skills and break new ground in visual design.
Tim: We try to create something new each time, but, unfortunately, it doesn’t always happen due to the disparity of the many competing product requirements—especially with medical products, “fresh and new” design, handled appropriately, can translate into progressive, state-of-the-art desirability over competitive products. Working alone can invoke tunnel-vision, but, on the flip side, involving a large number of unique perspectives from varying disciplines can make it hard to select a specific design direction because a consensus can’t be reached. There’s a middle ground, and that’s where we help guide the process. Pursuing two or three alternative design directions increases the possibility of achieving a “simply ingenious” design solution.
4. In addition to styling, industrial designers also make technical contributions to product development. How do you interact with your group, and what do you do besides designing and modeling after initial concepting?
Tim: Changes will happen at many points throughout all phases of the development process. The designer needs to assess each change and how it will impact the original design intent. Since CAD, product development has been much more of a multi-disciplinary effort; thus, industrial design maintains involvement at some level throughout. We work closely with the mechanical engineers, which has expanded our engineering abilities. A competent industrial designer often can handle general product engineering with little or no input from a mechanical engineer. More sophisticated products and systems require a high-powered engineer to propose a feasible technical solution and then have the designer propose packaging to support it. The overlap is less likely to happen in the other direction.
Andy: Designers and mechanical engineers may solid model the internal components of a project and do the drafting of a plastic part, for instance, but we (the industrial designers) tend to do the sexy swoopy shapes that most mechanical engineers would not attempt to solid model. A lot of the products we work on are inherently technical, but we’re trained to solve a lot of problems on our own. For complex systems that involve things such as spring rates or stress or elasticity requirements and the like, they need to be involved. Because projects are always changing, industrial designers are involved at some level until it’s handed off to the manufacturer.
Scott: When we first sit down with the client, we try to find out what annual production quantities and cost per unit it is expecting. That’s when we discuss the different manufacturing processes and which materials will fill their needs. Most often, it comes down to numbers, deciding which is the most cost-effective way to make the product for the number of units being produced in a given year.