Reflecting On My First Year As An Industrial Design Engineer

It has been over a year since I joined the biild design team and I thought it would be a perfect time to reflect on my journey.

Firstly, I would like to thank both the biild and AME team, I could not have asked to join a better group of people.

As this is my first experience with consultancy work, it has been interesting to reflect on what I have learned so far.

There has been a marked improvement in the quality and speed of my concept output, as well as the efficiency of my process. Working daily under experienced designers has helped to refine my skills and allow me to contribute more effectively to projects. Having constant constructive critique on my design output, I feel, has made me more robust as a designer.

The most interesting learning curve has been the interaction with clients. This is a tricky skill to learn without real-world experience and is a major aspect to each project.

A truly good design needs a level of emotional connection from the side of the designer, so that the feel of the project goes beyond the brief and delivers a product that has its own individuality and can stand out from its competitors. This is the trick as a consultant designer, not to impose too much of your own preferences on a design, to make sure that the client is your foremost concern. Knowing when to remain firm on a design direction and when to be flexible with the client’s vision can be the largest contributor to the success of the product design process.

The range of clients means that this is a constantly evolving process, some come with a very strong idea of the end result and the challenge can often be to guide the project towards that goal, whilst making sure that you offer resistance when you truly feel a better direction is available. Others only have a vague concept and you have the opportunity to flex your creativity, but you must still coax out their input, to make sure that they feel a true ownership of their new product and that the product is perfectly fit for purpose for their end goal.

Mastering the nuance of client relations has been the area I believe I have developed most at biild, once again with excellent guidance, but also just from experience of leading projects and spending time with varied clients. This has been the most challenging, yet rewarding part of my experience so far and I look forward to working with many new partners. Every day is different and that is very valuable.