Ever struggled to get your shoes off with a baby in one hand and groceries in another? Ever had delicate garments ruined because they got mixed with regular laundry?
While these everyday hassles might be frustrating for you, SJSU industrial design students see them as rich fodder for their next award-winning solution.
Their record to date is impressive. Industrial design students have garnered 351 International Housewares Association Design Competition awards in the last 15 years -- a record for any school. They have several international awards to brag about as well.
"Our students win because they go out, interact with people and bring those insights into the classroom," says John McClusky, industrial design professor. "They treat the end-users not just as passive recipients, but as active participants in the design process."
In pursuing solutions, McClusky's students have gone about their morning routines wearing safety glasses smeared with Vaseline to simulate cataracts or rubber gloves to mimic arthritis. "One of the most inventive was when a student who hadn't been to the gym in months worked out an entire day and got really stiff," relates McClusky. "Pretty soon all his design concepts were about getting on and off the toilet more easily!"
Jon Corpuz, '07 Industrial Design, says one of the most important things he learned was to get into the user's head. Corpuz designed Kinetiscape, an award-winning accessible play area, after an extensive community survey. "I wanted children to achieve their aspirations," he said. "Exercise had to be fun, not boring … it had to be an experience that could be shared with their friends and it had to be compelling enough to challenge them not just physically, but also mentally and socially."
While looking for her next big idea, Angie Kim, '05 Industrial Design, observed her friend's dad, who has severe arthritis, putting on his shoes. "He struggled a lot -- he had to sit down, fiddle with the shoelaces and then move his feet strategically," she said. "His goal was not putting on the shoes, but to get some exercise after putting them on!"
Soon enough, Kim had designed the "empower" shoe concept for people with physical limitations. A lace-less shoe with an internal latch system, it can be easily operated standing upright.
"When you try to take off your shoes without bending, you hook the toe of one foot into the heel of the other and that's what Angie kept in mind," explains McClusky. "Getting students to think about natural behaviors is really important."
"Design is all about understanding a problem," says Alison Anne Barnsley, '03 MA Art. "It's about digging into all the nuances and details, finding out what works and what doesn't, and then trying a lot of different solutions to come up with the best combination of form, function, meaning, manufacturability, practicality and whimsy."
Barnsley's award-winning Delicato Washer/Hamper is a salad-spinner lookalike that stores delicate clothes until you're ready to wash. Then you just fill it with water, push the handle on the lid and the perforated basket spins, gently agitating the soaked garments.
Sometimes, students are so keen on functionality that they forget to focus on the aesthetic appeal of products.
"I find myself having to push harder on the coolness factor," says McClusky. "If you design something that's accessible but can't compete in a consumer-based market, it's going to die and nobody's going to benefit from it."
That's another key lesson that students take away from this four-year program. Armed with critical thinking skills and solid design knowledge, SJSU graduates are hired by employers like IDEO, Smart Design, Bell Sports, Apple and Ziba.
Ultimately, the industrial design program is much more than an opportunity for students to explore their passion for drawing and sketching. "We learn how to create innovative, sustainable and life-changing products," says Faris Elmasu, '10 Industrial Design, creator of an award-winning bin-trash vacuum. "This program shows us the power that designers have to change the world."
- Mansi Bhatia
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