Industrial Designer
As the sole designer in Canada, I have the privilege of being responsible for the full scope of the design process from inception to production as well as all of the research to support it. Where the design process typically ends for most designers, I have the unique perspective of seeing the product through to production and marketing. I work closely with development and process engineers as well as within our test laboratory to narrow the bridge between design and full scale production. Within the small team I am afforded input on every step of the process including engineering decisions. Specializing in industrial design, I push the capabilities of our existing technology as well as explore new technologies. This includes designing, CADing, prototyping and testing new tooling as well as designing new processes to expand our horizons.
Due to NDA restrictions, each step of my design process will be pulled from separate projects and be explored independent of each other.
OVERVIEW
My responsibility is to create innovative design concepts that balance market readiness and production friendliness; from market research to concept synthesis through to lab testing and all the way to production troubleshooting and optimization.
RESEARCH
Research is the synthesis of the problem formation. I believe that curiosity spurs research, and research in-turn triggers more questions to be researched.
My research begins with the user as the end goal of any designed object revolves around its user. From there, I look to market trends, emerging technologies from all industries hoping to glean insight that I can pull into the product I am engaged in. This involves talking with our clients and customers to absorb their expertise, attending trade shows such as IDS Toronto, KBIS, as well as the unrelenting pursuit and passion in design to explore the minutiae of everyday objects; as behind everything we see and touch is a decision made by another designer.
CONCEPT
From the chaos of research, I narrow my focus and hone it into my concepts. Through ideation and iteration a number of concepts will be taken to the prototyping phase.
Distilling research and trends aids in moving into market projections to create a focused concept to pitch. But before any cohesive direction is set, multiple rounds of ideations take place to put ideas down on paper.
Once the concepts are created, I work closely with our development engineer who is responsible for our robotics to understand cycle times and tooling feasibilities. For this collaboration, I create new technical drawings to bridge the communication barrier between design and engineering. As someone who grew up in a household with one designer parent and one engineering parent, I have witnessed first-hand the incompatibilities of the two.
TESTING
Testing and prototyping is fundamental to a beautiful product. Translating concept to reality and a relentless pursuit of perfection despite the impossibility. This is a very exciting portion of the design phase because it offers the opportunity to create a great product. Time and effort spent in this phase is never wasted, every test is a learning experience to build on or to draw from in the future.
In this phase, I work closely with our lab technicians in our testing lab, which is equipped with a scaled-down version of our full production line. This facility is invaluable, as it allows us to create small 10x10 quartz sample slabs. By rapidly prototyping new colors and materials, we can efficiently evaluate their potential before advancing to full-scale production tests.
My design process also involves close collaboration with engineers from our development and process teams. This partnership helps me understand the production line's limitations, revealing areas where we can innovate and expand our capabilities. The lab plays a critical role here, enabling us to test 3D-printed tooling and prototype new designs for the robotic production arms, thereby facilitating the translation of innovative ideas into practical applications.
I personally create all the pigment and color pastes that we use in our testing. This gives me detail insight into the behaviors of the various pigments and materials we are working with; better understanding their capabilities and limitations. As well, it gives me control in insuring quality of pigments we are using in the testing.
My job is to outline a plan for our testing and testing parameters. My objective is to manage the limited man hours of our small team and to accelerate the development of new colors. In the lab we create small 10x10 inch samples to refine color and material properties in preparation for full size production line testing.
Tooling concepts aim to tackle a gap in our capabilities or to create a new capability. As an uncompromising designer it is imperative for me to have an active role in this development to bridge concept and reality. Utilizing our 3D printer, and CNC machine, we're able to quickly create scale down tooling prototypes. I then take it into the lab to prove the concept before handing off the project to the engineers to move the testing into the full size robotic arms.
My understanding for manufacturing processes also allows me to assist in problem solving when challenges arise. I proposed a new ceramic coating process for our tooling that is faster and more intricate than the previous processes. This was a project where I personally reached out to the ceramic coating company rep and handed off the sample we received to the engineering team for them to test how they saw fit.
FINAL TESTS
The final stage is to take all of the research and prototyping and test on the production line in full scale. This stage of testing can often reveal unexpected problems as well as glean valuable insights. Ultimately this is the step where we strive to create the best possible product for the end user. Considerations are often made here for production friendliness in balancing the design and production output.
On production trial days I'm with the production teams the entire time watching closely to document the tests. This gives us a reference to archive and enhances replicability.
