The Past.
I gained experience in design by taking a course on design and technology as one of my high school graduation subjects. I was educated in the basics of product design, user-centred methodologies, and fabrication, and I deepened these through extracurricular activities, starting in high school and continuing to university. This section will dive into competencies I have that are not a core part of my identity today but make me a better designer.
Electronics Prototyping
My interest in tangible interaction design was sparked while still in high school—prototyping interactive, connected electronic devices was my means of expression. I combined this with my interests in aviation to make a series of flight simulator input devices. At university, I augmented this by learning to program better and work with analogue electronics (TR) in creative programming, electronics, and Making Sense of Sensors courses.
Engineering Simulations
Finite element analysis and manufacturing simulations were present in my early processes to understand how my designs would behave under mechanical stress. I added to this with formal education in finite element methods and working on simulations for a biomedical case when working on Digital Twins in Healthcare. This competency lets me precisely predict behaviours without needing to prototype and test devices.
Sketching and Rendering
Learning to visualise made me more open to ideation without specific functional goals in mind. This especially shaped my vision around open exploration in the early stages of design processes. Rendering is a skill that needs attention to detail and patience. This not only lets me communicate design work with clients, as I have done extensively in freelance work and in my internship, but also lets me select colours, materials, and finishing for manufacturing better. These skills provide me with a solid foundation to design with but aren’t aspects of design I particularly want to focus on further.
Engineering Sciences
Foundational skills in sciences, mathematics, and data analytics also enable me to work with engineers and on more technical projects. Attitudes of precise iterative experimentation and skills in experimental design are important to my work. Developing this competency further does not particularly interest me, although I do so specifically for project needs, such as when I worked on a biomedical engineering project or my FBP.
Why Design?
I was motivated to study design after a design project – making faceshields – spun into a pan-India charitable effort I was running. We donated tens of thousands of 3D-printed faceshields and several more through agreements with commercial parties using our designs. I wanted to move beyond product design and examine systems such as supply chains I created for this project. Tangible artefacts were simply a means to a systemic end and did not interest me directly anymore. Today I realise scalable making can achieve systemic goals, and these artefacts must be carefully designed.