Form Construction and Exploration: Building Confidence and Vision in Early Industrial Design Education through Drawing

摘要

Visualization through drawn imagery in industrial design is a critical skill used to conceive, develop and communicate ideas, and is only one of many expectations required of design students throughout their education. It encompasses the creative process of thinking, understanding, exploring and resolving visual information. Traditionally design professionals and educators have relied on methodologies that utilized the instruments of paper and pencil to achieve visual goals. However with the advent of new and emerging technologies, which promise assistance to the professional and educational areas, the importance of traditional drawing has been challenged. Yet these new tools, while offering much promise, have not replaced the need for traditional drawing in the visualization process. Further, technology tools, if not properly managed, may reduce the development of visualization skills resulting in iminished perceptual understanding and less confidence. Absent understanding and confidence, students may never clearly perceive form nor hope to internalize an effective methodology that would allow for its broad exploration. This paper presents two separate but related phases of visualization through studio experiences. The first phase introduced perspective grids as tools for seeing,documenting and evolving accurate information while building student confidence. The second phase challenged students with a product redesign. During this process they were faced with; recognizing their personal aesthetic; exploring a broader range of form opportunities; better understanding their own methodologies towards exploration; and considering appropriate aesthetics towards a specific market segment. As part of this second phase, I introduced a concept that I call "A Square to a Circle." This evolving idea introduces a structure early in the conceptual process to push the idea of broad form exploration.