Being A Contemporary Product Designer

Added: 03/14/2006

Contemporary companies now are paying more and more attention to product functionality and appearance. They are aware that by improving these product qualities they can promote corporate identity and boost sales. It resulted in increasing demand for product designer services and this trend is likely to continue for the next five or six years.

Product designers design products used every day. He is a person who creates plans for these products and their main task is to find a balance between product appearance and product functionality. A good product designer should pay attention to several important factors: distribution and manufacturing limitations, production cost, comfort, target customer, style function and safety of good. He also needs to be broad minded and be an expert in a number of disciplines like advertising, marketing, psychology, history, architecture, photography.

A good product designer also unites in himself knowledge of the production of consumer goods and their marketing. The majority of product designers work with manufacturers producing food and drugstore items. A good product designer makes his goods unique, different from similar products of competitive companies. A consumer buys product that looks good on the shelf. In view of this, companies just have to employ a product designer. A product designer also reduces production costs, so the product will cost less. One who can make a per-item cost just a little bit lower gives his employer a big advantage over competitors at the supermarket or drugstore. Spending one third of his typical working day communicating with researchers, executives, advertising people and production managers, either in person or on the phone. It is essential that a product designer has the ability of working in a team. He also spends his time working with cost estimates and graphic designers in order to control the production of a potential product. This process has a collaborative nature. That is why the job of a production designer demands ability to communicate with others. In this field having business savvy is very important, as well as aesthetic skills. A good product designer feels equally comfortable making cost estimates or creating 3D models.

In order to get ahead in the job of a product designer, or any other job, you need the following knowledge and skills:
o Imagination and creativity
o Ability to work under pressure
o Aptitude to detect problems and to solve them
o Working with people
o Ability to organize your schedule and to meet deadlines
o Keeping up with customers' tastes, trends and current products
o Knack to learn client's preferences and needs and to translate them into a complete product.
o Interest to details
o Accuracy
o Sketching and drawing by hand
o Understanding technical drawings
o Using up to date computer software in their work
o Capability to create product models
o Presenting ideas, projects to colleagues, clients and peers for evaluation and criticism
o Developing a convincing argument
o Understanding of product development process, manufacturing procedure and marketing
o Finding work and networking

Besides these skills the successful products designer needs the basic skills: reading, writing, math, speaking, listening, ability to work with people, basic knowledge of computers, work ethic, optimistic approach, initiative, independence, self -presentation.

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