How does one convey the beauty and excitement in engineering to those that have rarely been asked to think about it? It really isn’t too difficult. Just look around yourself. There is not a thing there that has not had someone ponder over it for ease of use, manufacturability, human interaction and material makeup to name a few things. Even the shoes on your feet probably have a blueprint for their production laying around somewhere.
Engineering people tend to sometimes become overly analytical and practical with the function of a product and become blind to things like the end user. Of course function is the primary element that any product designer must meet so it is quite understandable that one gets target fixated on that aspect of things.
But people are looking for more now days. They want the function but they also want a product that looks good and is simple to use. Whether it is a jig designed for welding parts together or a new automobile that conveys a family around town. We all like to feel like we own something special and of value. And with the new computer technology available to us there is less and less reason for them not to expect it to be so.
Our challenge at NTI is to find the balance in teaching that includes both the fundamental hard core technical skill required to realistically design a product and the manufacturing that it entails and to have students creatively think about design and the end users. Dimensioning, tolerancing, mold making, surfacing, GD&T, sheet metal, plastics, material science is all a part of what is going on here. Also students are asked to think about balance, color, repetition, physical environment, ergonomics, a lot of challenging topics and to put them together to create useful and interesting designs that challenge them and their personal originality.
Of course we realize that in industry it may be awhile before our students are at the levels to be trusted with the design of expensive products or even small parts of overall projects, but it is never to early to think and have aspirations that lead in those directions. Students aspire to many different areas of design. Some more technical while others less so. We try to meet a wide range of expectations.
At NTI we want to be about possibilities, not limitations.
Have a great day!
