Ai and Industrial design ideation
- Jon Osborne
- May 2, 2023
- 2 min read
With Ai taking over the conversation in design iteration , especially in the field of industrial design. It's important to remember the process and why iteration and concepting is such a critical part of the design evolution.
There is a reason design can be so complicated. Designers of all types but especially industrial designers create their "art" in the arena of the human condition. We effect the interaction of an object may it be physical or even digital with the user experience we create. With that we effect emotional responses. They can be a one of pleasure, satisfaction, calm, or even anger and annoyance. These emotional responses can be pulled from the design's esthetics, function, ease of use, cost or in many cases all of the above.
In the process of design, sketching and now we include "prompting" just to it for a cool image, sketch or maybe even a loosely constructed design is probably not the best way forward now or even before. There needs to be a vision or a purpose. A goal. "sketch with a purpose"
We treat Ai engines like Midjourney / Chatgpt as tools. Just like how we treat sketching / rapid ideation. The conveyance of a design that has purposeful thought put in it is extremely important. When we design a chair, we think about the user experience, ergonomics, the manufacturing methods and possibilities, cost considerations, feasibility and of course, leapfrog innovation. The same should be with Ai. Ask yourself why? We create these complex prompts to generate gorgeous images. What can we pull from them? How can these images become a realistic product or solution?
At Aurora we use these new technologies as a tool in our process. To strengthen the critical design skills we use everyday. I have more confidences with our concepting, but as a value add not as a standalone. It helps center and harness our sometimes frantic brains as well as boost our problem solving capabilities.
Let me know your thoughts.
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