Materials and Processes: What Influences Product Design?

Chapter Two: What Influences Product Design?

Reflection:
There are so many considerations that go into the design of a product, it's easy to neglect thinking about them when we interact with everyday products. As an industrial designer, we must think about the environment, the cost of materials being used, and the technologies available to produce things. It is almost like the design and aesthetic aspect of designing a product should come last. When you think about all the things that must go into producing a product, it is easy to see why some are designed the way they are. It is not that the designer is not creative, it is just that they were conforming to the limitations put on them. It really seems like a good designer is one that is able to balance everything, and is actually placed in the middle of the spectrum between an engineer and an artist. I believe that artists aim for aesthetics while engineers aim for more realistic things. A good industrial designer must have the capacity to be creative while conforming to real world problems and limitations like cost and waste reduction.