| AS |
Professor Enlund, what do you see as the main factors changing industrial design today? |
TE |
Businesses have really woken up to the possibilities of industrial design over the past two years. But tighter product development timescales and increasing complexity now demands much more cooperation between parties. This leads to even more people becoming involved in the design process and more specialisation in the creative process.
When it comes to industrial design itself we have come a long way towards understanding the value of industrial design in the business environment. There is greater awareness in more companies and I no longer need to start a dialogue by justifying industrial design or setting out its benefits. But different companies can of course have stronger or weaker levels of commitment to its value.
I have a suspicion that too many still really believe that design is a luxury option, seeing only the cost and not the benefits.
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| AS |
How should we sell the need for good design in the 21st century? |
TE |
Of course we must get better at marketing design as vital to the value of the product, but now we must tell companies that design is a new, key tool in competition, which they neglect at their peril.
I believe that today’s consumers are more and more conscious of how things look. We seem to have come to a break point where technology is no longer an obstacle to what we can accomplish. Increasingly, technology, from a competitive point of view, will no longer by itself distinguish products. The softer values, such as design, are growing in importance.
Many mature products are at or approaching the point at which purchasers consider them – in technological terms – perfectly adequate for their needs. So what happens when a technology becomes mature like this? There are limits to the extent we can lower prices or increase efficiency to compete. In these cases appearance will emerge as a – or perhaps the – critical factor in competition.
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| AS |
If this is how design is to become more important to business, how is industrial design education adapting to industrial reality? |
TE |
There is a real question about finding the right balance – to what extent should a designer’s education be theoretical, and to what extent should it be rooted in real life? Both extremes are equally bad. With no connection to reality in their studies, real life comes as a disorienting shock to students on graduation. At the other extreme, an overdose of reality can put a damper on creativity. We must therefore create a mix of blue-sky creativity and practical projects, each informing the other. At the end of the day they must create realistic programmes to operate within specific limitations. In college we can’t completely simulate real life, but my aim is still that when students finish their course they have a good understanding of the real world and can make a seamless transition into it. I want them to bring into this real world enthusiasm and curiosity combined with well-adjusted practical and theoretical knowledge.
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| AS |
Your students have recently visited us here at Beckers for a course in colour – what can it give them? |
TE |
My hope is that this training will open their eyes to the potential in colour. Colour must be integrated with form, not a last-minute add-on. Colour and surface structure must therefore be thought about at the conceptual stage. I also hope that they come to understand as designers what options and alternatives there are and what it is possible to accomplish industrially.
It is particularly exciting that Beckers is ahead of us when presenting new pigmentations and surface effects – this is very unusual!
Also helpful is the chance to bring in our vision and run it past Beckers: “Can we take such-and-such an idea and realise it with pigments and paint systems available?”
You can never escape from the fact that industrial coating is very technical, and we will increasingly need close dialogue with the paint manufacturer and to have insight into industrial conditions.
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| AS |
How can this cooperation best be developed from your point of view? |
TE |
As I said earlier, this course in applied colouring is something we have long tried to develop. I particularly want the students to discuss colouring, to open their eyes, to raise their consciousness to its potential.
In this visit Beckers has shown the students how it is done and how much is possible – something that also strengthens my own convictions about the relationship between colour, design and the success of the end product.
As to developing the relationship a possible way would be for Beckers to support the course in applied colouring in practice at masters level. We have today a pre-mix system in College which allows us to mix any colours we want, and a handful of different effects. But if you want something beyond this, it is difficult. If we could walk hand-in-hand with a paint supplier operating at the leading edge, our students could place themselves at the forefront of colouring in design. We can also introduce new ideas to the dialogue, widening the paint manufacturer’s range of novel colouring applications.
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| AS |
If you were to be given a wish for the future of industrial colouring and design, what would you wish for, or to change? |
TE |
My vision is that design as a discipline is broadening and so design studies must now include market analysis and design management. In other words, how the design of a product line fits with, and enhances, a company’s brand strategy.
Also, the 3-D CAD environment and new prototyping techniques are developing. Earlier prototyping technology was an obstacle to testing and developing the form of an object. Now, when often we can verify in 3-D CAD, we can suddenly produce or change any form we like. We can also check at an early stage if the object will fall out of the tool or not. 3-D digital technology will revolutionise how we think about form, but will also demand greater technical skills of the designer.
This broadening of role and deepening of technology is bringing the designer’s job to the point where a single individual cannot cover the whole design process. To be master of everything will not be an option in the complex reality of the future.
Therefore it is my firm belief that design studios of the future must include individuals with differing specialisations and talents. Some will be best at developing form, some at concepts, some at structure and strategies, some will have special expertise in digital forming. All of these specialists will then cooperate in a way that is at the same time inspirational and business-like.
I would also very much like to see more companies appointing a designer at management level – someone who can see potential design opportunities and has the authority to prioritise good design; a person who can argue for serious investment in design and who can act as a focus for dialogue with external design consultants.
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| AS |
Thank you very much, Professor Enlund. |