-- Le Chaojin, Lecturer, Department of Industrial Design, Chaoyang University of Science and Technology, Taiwan
As an industrial designer in the 21st century, there are three self-expectations as follows:
First, as a full-scale designer;
Second, serve as a bridge between consumers and businesses;
Third, become a cultural person in the enterprise.
It is stated separately below:
Hey, a full range of designers
Industrial designers living in this age of knowledge explosion, if they can't broaden their horizons and expand their knowledge fields, will not be able to catch the high-speed trains of the times and be overwhelmed by the flood of information. Therefore, the author believes that the first thing that we must strive for is to advance toward the ideal of "all-round designers." Under this ideal, we must achieve all-round care, all-round participation and all-round design, and have a complete and independent professional philosophy.
First, all-round care As an industrial designer who leads the trend of daily necessities, it is not advisable to stand still and limit itself. In addition to the professional knowledge of industrial design, new knowledge in areas such as engineering technology, manufacturing technology, material development, natural environment, humanities and society, culture and arts, marketing, consumer psychology, lifestyle information, competitive strategy, and business management Every effort should be made to involve them so that they can fully grasp the pulsation of society and timely propose innovative concepts that can resonate with each other. Moreover, they can communicate with experts in other fields of the business class and product development team, and then exert their influence. .
In the past, the designer's mode of thinking tends to use most of his spirit in his own professional field, and he has a dispensable attitude toward having something in his field that is different from anything else. In the future, we should broaden our horizons, and we must be sensitive in distinguishing related professional knowledge from design professions in related fields.
Second, all-round participation Although we take the industrial design stage as the main responsibility, we should take the initiative to actively participate in the work of each stage of the entire process. Not only should it be traced back to the product planning stage, but it must also be extended downwards through technology development, manufacturing, marketing, purchase and use, etc., to the after-sales service stage; play an appropriate role in each stage, and in various stages. Experts in various fields working together communicate effectively and work together to make the greatest contributions to the capabilities of industrial designers. In this way, the excellent design concept can be successfully transformed into a successful new product; and the contribution of the industrial designer to the company and the value of its existence can be continuously improved.
Third, all-round design In addition to enriching non-design related knowledge, in the field of design or art, we must also engage in other specialties than industrial design as much as possible to make the professional performance of industrial design even more powerful. . Like computer animation, computer art design, visual arts, illustrations, sculpture, advertising design, poster design, exhibition design, photography video, audio recording, newsletter production, movie production, etc., can all produce quite direct help for our work. Therefore, whether it is the needs of their own work, or the entrustment of supervisors, parallel departments or customers, or even the coordination and supervision during the implementation of outsourcing, we should use the talents of the designers to make every effort to contribute, and should not be due to non-functioning. The professional category of industrial design is blindly rejected.
Fourth, the independent professional concept The author believes that a clear central idea and independent professional philosophy should be necessary conditions for any independent professional. When we emphasize extensive care and participation, we will not lose ourselves or even be assimilated.
Our profession is approaching the age of 100. We should not continue to use the predecessors' ideas in the era of creation: We believe that our profession is in the intersection of business, art, and technology. From another perspective, does this not mean that our profession is only a small part of the three major areas of business, art, and technology, and that the three major professional jaw domains are also sufficient to fully cover our profession? Our expertise is inherently common to the three major areas of business, arts, and technology. However, after a long period of experience accumulation and theoretical knowledge research, we should be able to sort out a set of our own professional philosophy system. A considerable portion of it is unique to us and cannot be covered by any field of business, art or science. In this way, we are able to demonstrate a demeanor in the process of working with other experts and make the design a truly professional field that is worthy of respect and dignity.
Of course, in the choices and judgments faced by various design work, we also need to uphold this consistent professional philosophy as a guide to ensure certain design quality and professional style.
è´°, the bridge between consumers and businesses
Due to the rapid and widespread dissemination of information, the 21st century should be an era of high consumer sovereignty. The survival and development of an enterprise depends on the satisfaction of most consumers with their services and products. In this era, the contribution and the value of industrial designers will rise because of our increasing influence on Satisfaction. The following are the reasons why the author made this observation:
I. Imagination + Caring = Undoubtedly the awareness of potential needs, rich imagination is of course the common feature of industrial designers, because this is a must-have tool for creative design; and when the rich imagination is used for people At that time, it naturally becomes a pleasant ear to the feelings of others, because it allows us to imagine and experience the feelings of others. If we can make good use of this kind of imagination and thoughtfulness, we will be able to further perceive the potential needs that are hidden in the minds of consumers that have not yet been realized. This is precisely the unique product that companies have developed to be loved by consumers and must be found. The entry point.
Second, product + rich emotional representation = to meet consumer demand for emotional life This is an era of perceptual consumption, consumers buy and use any product, in addition to hoping to meet their material needs, but also hope to meet their psychological Some kind of expectation. In product design, only the rich emotional representations given by industrial designers can satisfy such psychological needs. Therefore, industrial designers certainly play a key role in satisfying consumers' emotional life needs.
Third, high design quality = high customer satisfaction?
In addition to the emotional representation of the product, the product features such as form, color, texture, and operation interface provided by the industrial designer also constitute an important component of sensory enjoyment in the daily life of consumers, and it is also an essential element to improve the quality of consumer life. Therefore, the quality of design work of industrial designers should be directly proportional to consumer satisfaction.
Fourth, high-tech products + humanized design = to narrow the distance between users and technology products High-tech products, even with powerful features, if not with the human design of industrial designers, will eventually be difficult for users to bring a relatively convenient life . Only when industrial designers give appropriate closeness designs to products in Gaoke, can consumer voices truly enjoy the high-speed and comfortable life brought by high-tech, and thus increase their satisfaction with the company.
V. Standing from the point of view of the consumer -> As the spokesperson for consumers in the enterprise Because industrial designers have a wealth of imagination, coupled with our strong concern for consumers, we should be able to best understand consumers' various products. The psychological response to the design approach. Therefore, in the discussion of participation in product development, we are also most capable of acting as a consumer spokesperson, and from the perspective of consumers, reflect their opinions in advance on product development choices. This, of course, ensures that consumers are highly satisfied with the product.
6. Grasping the pulsation of social changes -> Trends of leadership popularization Through the collection, analysis, research and analysis of social phenomenon data, and the enrichment of imagination, we should be able to fully grasp the social pulsation than any other member of the product development team. It is not only to understand the status quo of social development, but also to be able to predict the direction of future changes. This is why we have taken the lead in proposing appropriate innovative designs to lead the tide of capital.
VII. Give full play to moral courage -> Create a win-win situation between consumers and enterprises The true value of an industrial designer is definitely not just to find a product that is profitable and profitable for the company; we must also be able to pursue economic benefits for consumers. At the same time to improve the quality of life. These two goals seem to contradict each other. However, today's technological development is no longer as difficult as it used to be. As long as we are in the product development team, we can stand up and express our ambitions, and taking into account both business operations and consumer satisfaction becomes a challenge for product development.
å, the cultural person in the company
If industrial designers can be people-centered, caring for society, and mastering pulsations, then we will undoubtedly become the group of people most concerned about and most knowledgeable about cultural development in the product development team because we continue to observe social trends and engage in consumer life research. In order to increase consumers' satisfaction with their services and products, the fundamental point of view is that they must proceed from the concern of the culture, and then implement the specific contribution to enhance the cultural level; in addition to improving the quality of life of the public with excellent products. In addition, it must also fulfill its broad social responsibilities in order to establish a good corporate image. Therefore, the higher level contribution that industrial designers can make is through their in-depth understanding of cultural development, providing suggestions for the direction in which companies shape their image, and even fighting for the opportunity to participate in direct influence.