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Value
added designing
Exhibits as diverse as a
hand-held ticket vending device for AMTS, a shoe polishing machine, a
sugarcane juice extractor and a bathing device for infants are on display.
The occasion: Synergy 2002, a two day Technology-Design Fusion Initiative
Workshop at the National Institute of Design.
The exhibits have been designed
by past and present students of NID. The workshop supported by the Department
of Science and Technology and UNDP involves NID, IITs, RECs and other
engineering colleges and a task group of the Central government.
The purpose of the workshop
is to have an open dialogue on how to integrate design and technology
for effective product development.
"Design adds value and emotion
to products. Still, its importance is not recognised in the country. While
in China 400 universities have industrial design programmes, very few
institutes offer the course in India," lamented Darlie Koshy, executive
director, NID. "Design is dictated by commerce and the consumer. Its primary
function is to attract the customer to the product," said Chandra Mohan,
chairman of 21st Century Battery Ltd, delivering the keynote
address.
What is needed to get the
cutting edge in the market is speed in prototyping and product launch,
he added. Amitabh Pande, joint secretary, DST, said: "Earlier the weaver
was the textile designer and the potter was the ceramic designer.
Somewhere along the way technology
and design have become divorced which is a pity. We are now trying to
fuse them." The department has apparently initiated several programmes
for the faster commercialisation of R & D efforts.
"There is a mystery attached
to the world of design. People should be made more aware about the countribution
of the designer to any product," said IT, government of Gujarat, inaugurating
the workshop.
Speaking on quality, V.M.
Parmar, product designer, NID, said that quality was at three levels.
"The first level is the finish (looks), the second is detail (about the
life of the product, its user friendliness etc.) and the third is concept
(how much the product is going to charge the lifestyle of the consumer
in the terms of saving time etc.). Having more innovative designs of products
is a major way for a company to become more competitive, said Shashank
Mehta, industrial designer, NID. "While the focus in the 1970s was cost,
in the eighties quality and in the nineties time, the focus in the future
will be innovation," he said. While companies have been competing with
similarity (in products), in the future they will be competing increasingly
with originality, according to him.
Quoting James Dyson, he said
that design was also about challenging the existing technology. Product
design had three components - engineering, ergonomics (user friendliness,
safety, ease of maintenance etc.) and aesthetics, he explained in a presentation
on "Imperatives of Technology Design Fusion". Mr. Mehta stressed that
design should be involved in R&D right from the beginning not just
for cosmetic value. An interface between design and technology would lead
to holistic product development as design was all about converting technology
to a product appropriate to the need, he added.
Republished from The Asian Age
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