Industrial & Product Design

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 14 feb 2014

China's manufacturing goods industry with its modern mass production factories and cheap labor is one of the most dominant and competitive in the world. Will 3D printing affect and transform Chinese manufacturing? In the article, authors of the latest book 'Fabricated: The New World of 3D Printing', Melba Kurman and Hod Lipson, share their insight and opinion on how 3D printing technology changes the dynamics of the Chinese manufacturing sector. Among the skeptics is Terry Gou, the CEO of one of the largest manufacturer, Foxconn. But the industry is now adopting the technology, although a bit late as compared to US and Europe. There are now seven 3D printer manufacturers located in China and the world's largest 3D printer manufacturer Stratsys, based in US, planning to open its office there. Moreover the technology will also assist China to evolve into high-end manufacturing and related services. Chinese government is considering it as priority and mentions it in their 12th Five Year Plan. The key goals include - investment in R&D; move up the value chain and focus on high-end & high-margin manufacturing in biotech, IT, innovative materials etc; upgrade skills of the labor force. During the course to achieve the goals there will be challenges. 3D printing technology may not totally displace the current mass manufacturing but it has the potential to find its own niche for premium custom products and services, both for the domestic and global markets. Read on...

Yahoo News: How 3D Printing Will Transform Chinese Manufacturing
Authors: Melba Kurman, Hod Lipson

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 14 feb 2014

3D printing is the latest manufacturing technology that can create objects by depositing material layer by layer directly from a digital file. Development of individualized products based on customer specifications and needs is an advantage of the technology. It is used for both prototyping and manufacturing in variety of industries like medical applications, architecture & construction, industrial design, automotive, fashion etc. According to Andrew Maher, 3D printing can provide operational efficiencies as the products can be manufactured in proximity to the point of delivery and consumption. Survey by DHL Supply Chain mentions that 3D printing will become prominent in the next 10 years while several companies are in the process of introducing the technology into their operations in next 3 to 5 years. Read on...

Brisbane Times: Shape of things to come
Author: Carolyn Cummins

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 01 dec 2013

Jonny Ives of Apple, acknowledges the influences that Dieter Ram's (of Braun) work has on his designs. Often these influences are visible in his designs for Apple's products. Article explores some of the comparisons of the works of both designers. Jonny Ives considered Dieter Ram's designs as 'bold, pure, perfectly-proportioned, coherent and effortless'. The ten principles of 'Good Design' described by Dieter Ram are - (1) It is innovative; (2) It makes a product useful; (3) It is aesthetic; (4) It makes a product understandable; (5) It is unobtrusive; (6) It is honest; (7) It is long-lasting; (8) It is thorough down to the last detail (9) It is environmentally friendly; (10) It is as little design as possible. Read on...

Forbes: Jony Ives' (No Longer So) Secret Design Weapon
Author: Anthony Wing Kosner

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 05 aug 2013

Team of researchers from Northumbria University led by Dr. Stuart English, a specialist in design-driven innovation, in collaboration with a private firm have come up with world's first home-based and non-invasive treatment of Diabetic Retinopathy (diabetes related eyesight problems) in the form of a 'Sleep Mask'. The prototype is undergoing clinical trials. The global diabetic population is estimated at 320 million and its growth is considered as epidemic. The Sleep Mask will have a significant impact on the care method of macular eye disease due to its low cost and non-invasive nature. Most available treatments for the disease are very expensive, highly invasive and hospital-based like laser and injections into the eye. Read on...

News-Medical: 'Sleep Mask' prototype: The world's first non-invasive treatment for sight loss
Author: NA

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 03 aug 2013

In a recent survey conducted to nominate the best industrial designs of the century, designers selected 12 designs - Apple Mac (1984), Piaggio's Vespa, Escalator, Virgin Galactic Space Plane, Kalashnikov (AK-47), Floppy Disk, iPod, Aeron Chair, Bang & Olufsen Stereo, Airbus A-380 Super Jumbo, Ford Model T, Jet Engine. The interview with designer Gianfranco Zaccai explores his opinion on the aspects of good design. He mentions three principles of a good design - (1) Empathy (being sensitive and understanding to the users and customers) (2) Pragmatism (be realistic and fulfill performance requirements of the product) (3) Passion (to explore possibilities and use creativity to the fullest). Some of the other design related advise he provided include - innovation is achieved by having a diverse team with multiple skillsets; design process should start with the idea and then building a perspective from a users side, re-look at it, engage others to refine it, overcome organizational obstacles to bring it to the market and utilize creative partners; creative environment should include diverse and multiple spaces; design is a confluence of art and science with people (users) at the core of the process; designers should avoid the mistake of focusing too much on aesthetics and neglecting the important issues. Read on...

CNN: The 12 best designs from the past 100 years
Author: Monique Rivalland

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 04 jul 2013

Neri Oxman of MIT's Mediated Matter Group is an artist and a designer and her work focuses on the principle that process of design is more important than the finished products. According to her approach, 'Material Ecology', nature can provide strategies for making multipurpose buildings and objects that have better performance and can be produced with less energy and waste. Her group intends to change the way designers build their products and advocates that designers should direct their designing abilities to develop processes and should take environment into consideration. She believes that materials are the new software in the design and manufacturing processes due to the digital fabrication technologies like 3D printing. She is working on projects where 3D printing techniques are modified to provide integrated objects and shapes printed with multiple materials giving them variable properties. In another project she is exploring the possibility of weaving through a 3D printer instead of the conventional sequential layering of materials. Ms. Oxman collaborates in her multiple projects with various researchers - Fiorenzo Omenetto of Tufts University, James Weaver of Harvard University, Craig Carter of Material Science at MIT. Read on...

MIT Technology Review: Redesigning Product Design
Author: Courtney Humphries

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 03 jun 2013

Renowned designer, Yves Behar, has come up with a latest technology and design for the 'Smart Lock' that functions by interacting with the smartphone without the use of keys. The lock has additional functionality like giving user control over the entry of individuals and keeping track of entry and exit of people. According to the designer - simplicity, usability, personalization and easy integration with connected devices are the important aspects of the design. Read on...

pandodaily: Yves Behar on design and the Internet of Things
Author: Richard Nieva

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 30 may 2013

Use of medical devices at home is becoming more common. According to experts, their designs are also getting more focused on basic aspects like color and ease of use. Designers are trying to bring simple feel to these devices inspired by the gadgets like smartphones, tablets, ereaders etc. They want users to be comfortable with them without any specific medical training. Use of colors is an important part of design and healthcare industry has utilized it significantly particularly in hospitals. Medical device manufacturers are utilizing skills of expert designers to understand customer requirements and use them in the devices. The challenge that the industry faces is that of longer time to bring the devices to market due to regulatory requirements which is not the case with the other home use gadget manufacturers. Read on...

Plastics News: Designers put appeal into medical devices for home use
Author: Gayle Putrich

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 26 may 2013

According to Raymond Loewy, the first 'Industrial Designer' to be featured on the cover of Time magazine, the purpose of the design is to keep "the customer happy, his clients in the black and the designer busy." But over a period of time the concept has evolved and now includes more aspects to it like consideration for the environment, utilizing science and technology to people's advantage etc. The design can make people happy by - pleasing them, entertaining them, surprising them and astonishing them. The article provides design examples considering these mentioned 'happiness parameters' suggested by the author. Read on...

The New York Times: Pleasurable Design
Author: Soren Petersen

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 13 apr 2013

'3D Technology' is transforming the way various industries like designing, manufacturing, entertainment, healthcare etc work. Its making the processes for designing and manufacturing products more versatile, less restrictive and less time consuming. Earlier stage has been the designing with 3D CAD and now with '3D Printing', prototyping and modeling has become efficient. The latest shift is towards the use of 3D printing in manufacturing and production. Workable products can be directly printed from a computer, thus reducing the chain of processes that are currently involved in manufacturing. This new method is termed as DDM (Direct Digital Manufacturing). Mass production would now evolve to 'Mass Customization'. With these technologies, the probability of a new phase of industrial revolution just got higher. Read on...

Design World: The Future of 3D Technology From This Day, Forward
Author: David Reis

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