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so is industrial design dead no
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definitely not but it is changing and
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you need to be able to adapt to future
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prospects in order to remain competitive
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[Music]
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i distinctly remember a lecture by one
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of my professors back in 2010 and he was
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telling us all that industrial design
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was dead
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now keep in mind this was after i had
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spent several years in the program it
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was like okay thanks for the news buddy
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over a decade later i can thankfully say
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that he was wrong but i do think that
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there are some important points to be
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aware of if you want to continue working
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in the field
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so i sat down with ryan hume to discuss
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how and why the field is changing as
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well as what you can do to adapt he's an
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industrial designer turned brand manager
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and now he runs his own product business
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called acid rain technology
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here's how we defined traditional
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industrial design in terms of the
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era of traditional industrial design
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probably the
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roughly the 1920s to the 1970s so like
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raymond loewy
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to deter roms as major figures rise of
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manufacturing
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materials technologies coupled with an
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extreme growth in middle class
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purchasing power
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creating an environment desperately
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hungry for
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new exciting products tv dinners
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plastics new is better media monoculture
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where everyone consumes the same
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information and the ability for a brand
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to reach everyone in the world
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they also have little else to compare
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your product to
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because the offerings are highly
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constrained by physical distribution
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large department stores sears and
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roebuck
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and bloomingdale's the big mid 20th
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century
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institutions that were like how
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basically how the average consumer
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encountered product
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experience product usually as the
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industrial designer
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you're prescribed a specific product to
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design whether that's a wrench or faucet
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or sunglasses or whatever else
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you'd run some usability tests and maybe
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make some stylistic changes
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and end up with a product at the end now
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that's still the core of industrial
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design
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but there's an increased emphasis on
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systems thinking
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so for example a lot of devices are
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being consolidated an iphone
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basically replaces several other devices
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it's not just a phone it's a watch gps
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system camera etc etc
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and as a result there's less of a need
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for industrial designers to make lots of
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different individual products
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and more of a need for industrial
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designers to understand how all of these
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things can work together as a system now
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most of my design work over the last few
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years almost
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always was part of a larger system
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there's usually a software component or
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you need to be thinking about how the
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service worked or the purchasing system
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or whatever else
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here's an example when i was working on
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my startup protos eyewear we were doing
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3d printed frames
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that were tailored they were customized
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and bespoke to each individual
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customer's unique features
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this was back in 2012 or so and we not
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only had to design the frames that were
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beautiful and fit many people well we
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also needed to design a way to quickly
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make adjustments to the frames based on
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each individual's facial dimensions
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we needed to design a system to
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accurately record
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customers measurements over the internet
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we didn't usually have them available to
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us in person
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we needed to design an identification
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system for each individual frame on the
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factory line so we knew
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which frame was for which customer and
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it's been the same thing for more recent
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projects as well whether it's rethinking
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the food supply chain or reinventing the
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next evolution in augmented reality
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there's generally been a much more
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holistic approach to my design work now
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you could argue that it's because i'm
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becoming a more senior designer but
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i think it actually just boils down to
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having more options there's more options
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for distribution
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more options for specialization and more
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options for marketing
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when brick and mortar retail was king it
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was basically like okay it's gonna be a
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box on a store shelf and that's it
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this is a little bit scary because
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there's less of a direct
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clear path but it's also really exciting
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because there are just so many options
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by the way you should totally subscribe
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it's free it motivates me to make more
00:04:03
content like this and you can always
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change your mind later back to the video
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legacy consumer packaged goods brands
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like things that were sold at these
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mono culture department stores
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of the mid 20th century are now facing
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really intense competition
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from a huge horde of small
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players on the internet who are
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using novel ways of sourcing
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and shipping products like directly from
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china and asia in general
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on platforms like amazon to undercut
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prices
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and capture sales and just the structure
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of large
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consumer product companies can't compete
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with that
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one could say that they're kind of
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counter-positioned to each other
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one business can use a strategy where if
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their competitor
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tried to imitate their strategy they
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would
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destroy their own business netflix and
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blockbuster is one of the main
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examples blockbuster was making an
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enormous
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amount of its revenue off of late fees
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and netflix just said
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no late fees brick and mortar just is
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not king anymore it's not king of
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distribution
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anyone can post up a product online now
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that's both a good thing
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and a bad thing it's good because it
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gives power to individuals
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it's a bad thing because there's a lot
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of noise out there and a lot of really
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crappy products being made to be quite
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honest about it and the main problem now
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is getting your work
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noticed by the right people so in
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addition to making a product that
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is beautiful and functions well which
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has always sort of been like the
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baseline requirement for industrial
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design since the beginning
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and in addition to thinking about how
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it's going to be distributed on a
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logistical level
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you also need to think about how it's
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going to be marketed now
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because you need to cut through all that
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noise so how are you going to present
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the information about your product
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before it was decided for you your
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product was guaranteed to be on a shelf
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in a retail store with a whole bunch of
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other products
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but now there are a bunch of different
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avenues maybe it makes sense to make a
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youtube video
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maybe you need to show it through
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instagram maybe you'll start a discord
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channel to sort of build your community
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the key here is to think of the entire
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sales system not just the product itself
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another thing that's changed a lot in
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the past five years is the
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democratization of skills
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so with youtube you can learn pretty
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much anything about whatever topic you
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want
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and with digital tools it's much easier
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to get an adequate or proficient result
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anyone can get a license of keyshot and
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come out with a
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super photo realistic rendering with a
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few days of training
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compare that with the pre-digital era
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where you'd have to train for years
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to be able to proficiently create a high
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quality hand rendering
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there are only a few places you can
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learn the skills usually at big
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educational institutions
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and it would take years to master the
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skills but because anyone can learn the
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skills these days
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it's just not as impressive anymore now
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i want to make something very clear
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to reach the highest pinnacle in any
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pursuit is still just as hard as it was
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whether it's by hand or digital
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the biggest difference now is that
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there's just far more average designers
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there who can pump out reasonably
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convincing designs using digital tools
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and because the barrier to entry is much
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lower the standard has gotten much
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higher the best portfolio from when i
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graduated in 2011
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wouldn't even be able to get you an
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interview now the good news is that
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there's still a lot that you can do
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your training and design is still as
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valuable as ever let's say you want to
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do pure industrial design still
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i mentioned systems thinking before
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that's important but another thing you
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can focus on
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is specialization so you can either
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specialize in a certain product category
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or you can specialize in a certain skill
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set so for example
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tim zarkey specializes in product
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rendering and he's basically built a
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personal business out of making himself
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the master of that
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he's not just a rendering artist or a
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concept artist
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he is specifically focused on rendering
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products
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and this specialization makes him one of
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the best in the world at what he does
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by the way this is the second time in
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two videos that i've mentioned tim
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zarkey so zarky feel free to send me a
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check in the mail i appreciate it very
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much
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so me for example i have a focus on
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ergonomics and wearables there's a heavy
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emphasis on fashion and technical
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constraints for this sort of design
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and i especially focus on objects that
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fit on or around the head
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or even more specifically objects that
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fit on or around the eyes so like
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glasses or goggles or headsets this
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requires a sensitivity to fashion
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and comfort i still do work on other
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product categories but
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wearables and ergonomics are kind of my
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bread and butter it's probably 70
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percent of the work that i do
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another way to get a better
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understanding of systems thinking and
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remain competitive
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is to cross-pollinate so maybe you're
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really interested in branding or
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business development or mechanical
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engineering
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remember what we were saying before
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about how it's relatively easy to reach
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a proficient level in any skill because
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of all the learning tools that are
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online now well
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now is your chance to learn industrial
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design and business development or
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industrial design
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and mechanical engineering this is how
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you can become a better systems thinker
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which is so incredibly important right
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now
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and last but certainly not least you can
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also explore micro entrepreneurship you
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can find a small
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tiny niche market that would otherwise
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never be accessible to you without the
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internet
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and that's exactly what ryan hume has
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done this is called the 1000 true fans
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model
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coined by kevin kelly and basically the
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idea is
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if you can get a thousand people to
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spend a hundred dollars on your products
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every year you've got yourself a
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personal business no big business would
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ever focus on this product because it's
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just not profitable enough there aren't
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enough users
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but he has a small team that can
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probably fit at a dinner table
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and his customer base is more than
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enough to sustain a smaller business
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without the internet and all these new
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marketing and distribution channels he
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never would have been able to start a
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business like this and i know that
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designers love
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variety and novelty you don't need to
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commit to one thing right away
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i've been focusing on this youtube
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channel to see if i can be better
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equipped for design education i also
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teach part-time at california college of
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the arts
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i'm learning about computational and
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generative design as well
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both of these things help to support my
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specialization in wearables design
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but they also could sort of morph into
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their own specialization
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over time my point here is that you can
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try many different things but the sooner
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you can pinpoint a certain
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specialization that's profitable
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the better i think the key here is that
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it is a scary time but it's also really
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exciting there are plenty of new
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opportunities for people
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willing to explore adjacent fields and
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make the most of their skills
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you can learn anything on the internet
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it's just a matter of exploring
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a few different avenues and committing
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to expanding your craft
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always be thinking about your skill set
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and how you can best leverage it
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think about who your ideal client is
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whether that's working at a company or
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starting your own business
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fortune favors the bold so get out there
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and have fun and learn something new
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you're already on the right path by
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watching videos like these
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now take the next step and make it
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happen i also have a much longer
00:10:55
discussion with ryan hume about this
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topic that's over 90 minutes long i'll
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be posting it on this channel very soon
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but you can also listen to it on apple
00:11:03
podcasts i'll leave a link to that in
00:11:05
the description
00:11:06
thanks again guys for listening to the
00:11:07
video i hope you learned something and i
00:11:09
really appreciate your time if you've
00:11:11
made it this far you probably enjoy the
00:11:12
content i'd
00:11:13
really appreciate it if you subscribed
00:11:15
and have a great day
