Take Up Designing To Self-Improve

Have you been fascinated by new products that comes up now and then?

Have you wondered how the designer or product creator comes up with the idea and convert it to actual product?

Some of the products are simply enough for any person to come up with but never think of. Some products needed a team and takes a longer time to materialise. Others can be a one-man show.

Whatever the intensity of the product creation, it needs some knowledge and skill to be put into application and tested. This open up a good area for anyone wishing to self-improve themself.

Designing product requires many aspects of character merging with technical know-how. Having just the technical know-how without the necessary determination and focus, will not suffice in this challenging task. Likewise for the reverse.

Both skills, hard and soft, has to be in tandem to create a positive outcome. Therefore whoever chooses to take up designing to improve themself exposes themself to a very excellent field whereby all their skills and knowledge in the relevant area are tested.

The task starts from imagination, market research, feasibility studies, prototyping, measuring and testing, gathering feedback, re-designing, project management, time management, sourcing (manpower and material), and ends with production.

However, depending on the product, not all the tasks listed are required. Start small and simple if you are a novice, and branching into more complex product after gaining more experiences.

Therefore, needless to say, design is an area that enable one to apply their skills and knowledge (old and new), or to maintain or refine them. It serves to make us link theory to practice. And with practice, our skills will be enhanced together with our intelligence.

To conclude, I like to quote one statement made by an American design practitioner, Louis Danziger:
"Design is intelligence made visible".