Product Design Jackie Hon

8/14/2019 Product Design Jackie Hon

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If you:are observant about thingswant to make changes about thingsspend a ton of money on materialsare used to working with your handslike making a messdont mind noise

dare to stand outare prepared to get your ass kickedare a people person and a lone worker, andare prepared to have (many) sleepless nights,

Then, youre almost good to go...


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Cara LeonardA Senior year Student

These are fromPublic Realm.Its the userscenario. Theproject was tomake vendingkiosks for the townof Margaretville,NY

WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN CLASS RIGHT NOW?I have 4 classes - 3 related to thesis and one liberal arts class. Thesis is the senior studioclass. You also have to take Information Design with thesis in the fall and spring. You canpick ANYTHING in the world for your thesis project. Pick something you ! re truly interestedin or you ! ll hate the entire year. That ! s my tip on that!WHAT WOULD YOU TELL SOMEBODY INTENDING TO MAJOR IN PRODUCT DESIGN?Never take anything personally. Your projects will get beaten to death by your studio teacher.I suppose they ! re NOT actually evil, but when you spend so much time working on somethingand then someone rips on you about it, it sucks. But, always see critiques as a way to learnabout what to do in the future. Oh, and don ! t pull all nighters. Ever. ESPECIALLY in productdesign becuase you ! re likely to injure yourself chiseling at your project at 4am.WHATS THE BEST THING ABOUT PRODUCT DESIGN AT PARSONS?Product Design is awesome because you get these crazy skills that you can brag about. Canyour friends weld? Probably not. My friends and family always call on me to x things becuaseI know how to work with so many types of materials and have a working knowledge of whatneeds to be done and how to do it. It ! s pretty great, actually.WHAT ARE CLASSES LIKE? ARE THEY TEAMED BASED OR INDIVIDUAL PROJECTS?Most of the studio projects are team based. Most of the " elective ! class projects are individual.Soph year ! s studio is Design Research and Development. It ! s a lot of quick 3 week projects.It! s hard, it ! s intense, but you ! ll get a lot out of it and learn what you can do. I really do stressthis. I was told so many times by my teachers that my project can ! t be done, but I alwaysgured out a way to do it. I KNEW it could be done and it really gave me faith in my abilities.The rst few months of DRD are individual then it goes on to groups of 3 for the end of thesemester and the end of the following semester.


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Do you No. Seriously.Do you?

think you know what Product Design is?really

Its not entirely about the hands on things,like making useful everyday objects. Its alsoabout the design of those objects, the thingsthat you touch and use every day.

The idea is to make a product for a certaingroup of people for a certain task. This meansthat youll have to know everything about thisgroup of people.

When you start a project, rst you mustresearch, nd out everything you can aboutthe relevant audience, and then you moveon to designing. This can be done sketchingby hand as well as on the computer usingprograms.

If the research is not helping with the design,then you must go back and do some moreresearch. You then build or make yourproduct. Finally, you prepare to present yourdesign, basically selling your idea and productto classmates and your studio teachers.

How you arrive at the nal product is upto you. But you will be taught the processand you will master your very own designprocess. Everyone does it differently, and youwill eventually nd your own way of arriving atthe nal product.


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Leah Waldman junior year student

WHEN ARE YOU GRADUATING?

2009WHAT CANT YOU LIVE WITHOUT FOR CLASS?

Measuring tape and sketchbook.WHATS YOUR FAVOURITE CLASS?

Prototypes, you actually get to build stuff.WHATS YOUR LEAST FAVOURITE CLASS?

Solidworks. I hate working on the computer.

So it ! s horrible because you need to make a

digital model of most of your designs.THE WORST THING ABOUT PRODUCT DESIGN?

Everything takes so much time and there aren ! t enough

machines and tools for everyone.

It! s really hard to procrastinate and you can ! t do anything last

minute because you have to

wait hours for nishing to dry.

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There you will nd the main ofce,main classrooms and the model shop.(Where you will spend many hours.)

Sophomores and Juniors get their ownboxes in the model shop to store their modelprojects. There are also lockers on the 3rdoor, but they re reserved for Juniors andSeniors!

ON THE FLOOR

3rd

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WHATS THE ONE THING YOU WILL HAVE TO DO OVER AND OVER AGAIN IN PD? Research, design, and nal presentation (the nal product).

It!

s a lot of going back and forth between research and the design process.DID YOU KNOW WHAT TO EXPECT WITH PRODUCT DESIGN?

Think so. Heard it was going to be intense. It ! s getting more intense now,

I didn t really expect itANY LAST WORDS OF ADVICE?

Keep your mind fresh. If you hate it (product design), then there s no point.You ! ll be miserable and unhappy.

WHERE ARE YOU FROM?

Originally from Taiwan, but I moved to Boston 7 years ago

WHEN ARE YOU GRADUATING?

2009

WHAT ELSE IS IMPORTANT TO PRODUCT DESIGN BESIDES CRAFT AND IDEAS?

Go out and visit sites, like shops and fairs.

Be aware of what ! s available out there,

and then think about how you can improve the design.

Richard Yeh A junior year student

HerngFuu RichardYeh617- [email protected]

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ARE YOU A TRANSFER STUDENT?

I transferred from Wentworth Institute of Technology, an architecture school in Boston.ANY PARTICULAR REASON YOU CHOSE PARSONS?

I heard that they had a good reputation for design and their furnituredesign seemed promising.WHAT IS THE WORK SPACE LIKE?

The shops are really nice. They just renovated the whole basement. There ! s no studio spacefor us which is annoying. They give you lockers down in the basement,which is nice for small things, then once you become a junior/senior, you havethe opportunity to get a locker up on the 3rd oor.IS THERE ANYTHING A PARSONS STUDENT SHOULD KNOW ABOUT PD?

Its pretty tough, there ! s a lot of work, and you need to push yourself toreally make yourself stand out.ANYTHING ELSE YOU WANT TO SAY?

Be prepared to work. You ! re going to feel like a mad scientist coming up with ways tomake your ideas work, and it ! s going to be tough. But, once you get it all together, it ! s agreat feeling seeing your idea come to fruition.

Carl Frisk A sophomore year student

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You do spend a ton of money on materials. Im not going to lie about that. Its probably the mostexpensive department to be in. Sophomore year, youre really dumping all your money into supplies.Junior year was a lot less expensive. I think the only thing I had to buy was metal for metal fab(rication).

That was around $100. This (senior) year, I really havent purchased anything other than some books forresearch and felt, which may have been like $50 for the whole semester. So really it gets less expensiveas you go on. Theres also a stock of tools in the woodshop that you can use, but you wont gure thatout until the Spring (of sophomore year, unless someone tells you early!)

- Cara LeonardSenior 08

Nice try!SO YOU THINK YOU CAN SURVIVE PRODUCT DESIGNWITH JUST HARD WORK AND GREAT IDEAS?

The school projects that you will spend $250 per class persemester, but if you already go to Parsons , you probably knowthat the budget goes far and beyond what the school suggests.You can easily spend up to $1000 for furniture projects ,

buying wood, paint and glue! One alternatve is picking upcardboard and materials found on the street.

p.s always buy extra because you never know whenyou might need more .

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Douglas BestA junior year student

WHEN DID YOU COME TO PARSONS?

I transfered from pratt in my sophomore year.WHY DID YOU TRANSFER?

I wanted, to have more of a business aspect of product design, I didn ! t want itto be all about art art art. WHAT DO YOU THINK OF IT SO FAR?

It! s been interesting. Everything is about innovation here. The people thatteach here are great. You need to suck every bit of knowledge out of them.ARE THERE ANY UNWRITTEN RULES ABOUT THIS DEPARTMENT?

...Follow your own rules, according to your own design sensibilities.WHATS THE ONE THING THAT YOU HAVE TO DO OVER AND OVER AGAIN IN PD?

Presentations. You really need to learn to plan ahead, you won ! t get to bullshityour way through as much as you think. You sketch a lot too, and you knowplenty of research. CAN YOU GIVE ANY ADVICE TO THOSE COMING IN TO PRODUCT DESIGN?

Get good at making shitty models. I made the mistake last year of focusingon making perfect models and wasted a lot of time. The project deadlines areintense so you really need to get your priorities right. What else, make friends!You ll get new experiences.Learn to be extraordinary.

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BasementTHE

If youve ever wondered about what goes on down there...

Here are a few tips.

Be ready to get lost once or twice when you rst explore it.Be nice to the shop technicians and student monitors.Be ready to tackle machines bigger, faster, and stronger than you.Be humble before the machines but also,Be condent.Be prepared to get down and dirty.Get ready to SAND. (everything)Dont hesitate to ask for help.

Remember to BE SAFE. And HAVE FUN!

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So youve made it this far in to this book.Ive let you in on the uglier and messier sides of Product Design.

Good.

StillInterested?

Believe or not, there are amazing rewards for putting yourself through allthe trouble and nightmares.

From all the student interviews. The mostgratifying thing about Product Design,is being able to see your baby fromsketch to production to nal product ,and then furthermore to actually bringyour product home and use it!

As Carl says,

Its the difference of being ableto sit in a chair you designed andbeing able to only look at a scalemodel of a space you designed.

You get to experience every aspect of design in product.

Dont fret about not having a social life.I know youre thinking about it.

Although you will be spending most ofyour weekends at school . Youre with allyour classmates and get to goof around ,so even though its work, its still socialand fun. Remember to make friends!! There are a lot of characters andeveryone is always willing to help you.Theres always a sort of community effortthat goes into getting projects done.

If you havent turned in to a vampire after spending most of the threeyears underground in the basement in the shops, and have come out ofthe product design department sane and in one piece after three years,you are well on your way on becoming a designer in the professionalworld. And since the skills you learn in product are completelytransferable , you will nd jobs almost anywhere. From architecture rms,to consulting agencies, to starting your own company and even being anapprentice building furniture.

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I would like to say a big thank you toCara, Carl, Douglas, Leah and Richardfor answering so many of my obnoxious questions!

All photographs in this book were taken by Jacqueline Hon.

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Product Design Jackie Hon

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