A story of becoming a designer, being an engineer
A true story.
For me, It all started 6 years back.
I was already an engineer when I formally enrolled for a masters in Product Design.
This article will try to be a logically palpable saga of my realizations while still being on the journey.
To bring logic in this story, I had to bring scientific reference and that is the brain dominance theory. It states that people are either left-brained or right-brained, meaning that one side of their brain is dominant.
If you’re mostly analytical and methodical in your thinking, you’re said to be left-brained. And, If you tend to be more creative or artistic, you’re thought to be right-brained.
Do an experiment. Find any magazine around you. Open any advertisement page and see what you retain to remember the same for the future.
This answers whether you are right brained or left brained.
You remember detailed text — Left Brained.
You remember detailed image — Right Brained.
If we assume that Engineers are mostly left-brained, how differently do you think they perceive space layout, surfaces, interaction, art, human psychology, empathy, coloring, drawing, shape building, etc.
Here I was, after engineering, making swatches by tinting black (#000000) until it becomes white (#FFFFFF) and drawing human figures with charcoal. I enjoyed doing it but being an engineer, I logically correlated that such assignments are important coz drawing/representation is a valuable skillset. Little did I know that one day I will reach a place where I will consciously say that whatever I correlated was just the tip of the iceberg.
During one of the design course, we had to search for a latent need for which we would eventually design a simple product, nothing technically complex. Here are some of the ideas that I thought of.
- A device to stop milk from spilling out of the vessel while boiling.
- A clothes hanger which can hold a three-piece saree set.
~ Trying so hard to remember sticky notes on my wall from back those days ~
3. A new type of stapler.
4. A new type of packaging for pastries.
5. A brand new concept of extension plug.
6. Foldable toothbrush.
7. Detachable heels.
8. Water bottle cap.
9. Wipe-spoon.
And so on.
Did you notice?
None of the above ideas talked about an actual human need. They just care about being a better version of something which already serves a need.
How to unlearn something which is so deep in your sub-conscious?
This is where I started my journey of understanding what they now popularly termed as “Design Thinking”.
What did I make in that course?
Aid while washing a car — car washing glove, which was also my first product. Here is a link to its media coverage.
Now that I was handling needs, comes a scenario of making things aesthetically pleasing and ergonomic. Designers are supposed to make aesthetically pleasing products. I mean, what designer are you if you can’t make something beautiful. And came a time when I logically related to all Gestalt Laws of Perceptual Organization.
Given that and even then, my architect and designer friends were doing better. What is that I had to learn? How is an engineer expected to look at the right place?
During that time, I did multiple attempts to get innovation, ergonomics, and aesthetics, right. I let my right and left brain to just re-wire and tried understanding what it takes.
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Little did I know that one had to be lost to learn what I was searching for.
All just came to me, from the moment I landed in Germany for my exchange program.
I didn’t know German. Anyone can tell you that you feel handicap without understanding the native language in Deutschland.
On a small scholarship and a huge ego to not take money from my parents, I made it really difficult for myself to survive.
To start with, I lost my hostel and for the first few weeks, I didn’t have a proper place to stay. I was in one or the other hopping hostel in and around the area.
It was one of those stressful days when I was buying a shampoo bottle. The catch was, I couldn’t afford to buy a conditioner bottle instead of shampoo. And Germans don’t even write labels in English.
So, there I was figuring out from the image on the label if it’s was a shampoo or a conditioner. This was the moment where every extra bubble in the way you draw soap lather matters. This went on for a few other products. And eventually, I noticed that I have started noticing and inferring from images.
This went on for space layouts because obviously once you get the hack, it goes on. And who in that position would take the risk of reading signage? And it went on and on. Multiple facets of enlightenment.
It was magical. It took no time to connect all the dots from old assignments.
Perspective is a beautiful gift.
I could see something new on every billboard. Every magazine was bringing in a new life. Every menu was different, no, really different.
Eventually, I started seeing a difference in my work. I started seeing that balance I always craved for.
I started seeing a beautiful place where you can create things that satisfy emotions as well as need.
Well, so the thing is while engineering education focusses just on the left brain which caters to analytical and methodological thinking, Design trains much differently. The design needs you to juggle between both brains just as beautifully as fine bilingual switches between languages.
You could also listen to the writer sharing the same story in a webinar talk here.
Have a wonderful day ahead.
Keep designing. Keep living. #roundumbrella
