<p>“One more question. I’ve just noticed that the mechanics school also has an industrial design major.
Long story short I come from an arts background but i’m interested and willing to pursue any kind of technical endeavour, that’s why I was asking for advice regarding the different programs.
But looking at this one it seems like it’s a good blend between science and art, though i’m not sure where the design part fits in the whole engineering pipeline.
Is it that when you want to build, create something, you first come up with the design and how it is supposed to look with respect to some science laws and manufacturing rules so as to make something viable and actually doable ? And then the engineering part finds ways to integrate the tech into the design.”</p>
<p>I don’t know how industrial design is linked in the real world and it probably varies a lot depending on what one’s doing and for who. I’d see at least two mainstream descriptions for industrial design: design of products that are design-optimized (i.e. they satisfy the functional, but not technical requirements, which are left as an “implementation concern”) or design of products that look good (i.e. industrial design primarily for aesthetic reasons). And then something between those two. Very closely linked to physical engineering considerations, but an industrial designer is not necessarily left to be concerned with the technical analysis, but the form and the function, and there will be other engineers for the technical analysis and design. Think architecture, but for all sorts of industrial products, rather than just buildings.</p>
<p>“What I am trying to say, are engineers the ones that think about or invent new products, or do they find solutions to integrate their respective knowledge into a functional and aesthetic design and everybody works together to make this happen, but the idea the concept for the product is first thought out by the designer ?”</p>
<p>Engineers are not usually (a generalization I know) artistically motivated, but technically or scientifically. An industrial designer’s viewpoint to engineering is humane and functional (what kind of product and why, not necessarily how or the technical “what and why”). E.g. if you need to design an alarm clock for non-technical, elderly people, you’re not going to stick a circuit board and a led panel into a square box and put some buttons on it and define the whole logic of controlling the alarm clock so that it’s something that only the implementer understands. No, you design an user interface (e.g. a case) that fits the purpose and appeals to the users, thus making their life simpler. </p>
<p>A designer can as well invent and project new products, it’s just that they’re not necessarily concerned with the technical or budgetary feasibility of their designs (although they can be, especially when the task specifically asks for that kind of consideration), but just optimal, functional or new and interesting designs.</p>
<p>“With this in mind, will pursuing a major with a mechanical concentration (and not EE since mechanics seems to be more oriented toward the physical building side of things) in courses like mechatronics let me also work as a designer if I learn the necessary drawing/3d software myself ?”</p>
<p>I would expect so. Artistic ability comes down to talent and ideas (and obviously practice), not crunching numbers or memorizing formulas. And if you understand the technical implementation or at least the feasibility as well as all sorts of optimization concerns (materials, strength, shape etc.) as well (it’s surely required/preferred for an industrial designer), then that’s even better.</p>