IMPROVED METHODS FOR TEACHING PRODUCT FORM DESIGN TO ENGINEERING STUDENTS
Year: 2018
Editor: Erik Bohemia, Ahmed Kovacevic, Lyndon Buck, Peter Childs, Stephen Green, Ashley Hall, Aran Dasan
Author: Dresselhaus, William F; Yim, Hyunjune {HJ}; Lee, Keun
Series: E&PDE
Institution: 1: Portland State University, Portland, Oregon, USA; 2: Hongik University, Korea, Republic of (South Korea)
Section: Sketch in Design and Engineering Education
Page(s): 597-603
ISBN: 978-1-912254-02-6
Abstract
This paper presents the results of an ongoing experimental “Designeer” programme of teaching end-user product design to undergraduate engineering students using a hybrid approach of traditional industrial design coupled with product engineering. The programme’s objectives are: 1) prepare engineering students to create credible product designs when no industrial designer is available, and 2) instil understanding and appreciation of the discipline of product design to work collaboratively with industrial designers. Topics and skills are provided in this programme that are not ordinarily taught to undergraduate engineers, e.g., manual perspective sketching and aesthetic product form design. In teaching such unique content, a number of cognitive, perceptual, skill and application deficiencies in engineering design education were discovered. Herein described are the applied remedies, the improved methods developed, and the results that are an educational success. The improved methods are: 1) a Y-system approach using multiple support tools for realistic manual perspective sketching, and 2) a combination of manual orthographic sketching and computer aided design (CAD) for aesthetic product form development.
Keywords: Product design, engineering design, industrial design, design education, design visualization, design form-giving, concept sketching.