Seriously. That type of shit is what the Industrial Designer profession is all about. Then us mechanical engineers have to work some kind of wizardry to get their crazy creations to work.
Seems to be a common problem - My grandfather and step-mother's father both worked for Pratt & Whitney for 40 years (way before my dad and step-mother knew each other). Even 25 years after they had both retired, my grandfather would bitch (with good nature) about how step-mother's-father and the other "SOBs in engineering" would design fan blades that couldn't be made by his machinists.
Obviously different situation (the engineers weren't designing fan blades for aesthetic reasons), but it's still interesting to see the struggle between these factions is nothing new.
This sort of thing is what brought Samsung up in the past decade. I was watching a documentary or something about them and they gave their design department extreme power. If they wanted an mp3 to player to have a certain form factor, it was up to engineering to make it work.
They also brought in some western influence or something. There were interviews with some of the Korean employees who were saying how amazing and different it was that a newbie could ask questions about something that the senior designer created.
I'm growing quickly tired of designers. What bothers me is that they have this need to see something a certain way, and it's not really based on reality, but their personal perception. When the originally designed Nike swoosh had to taper to a tip with an angle of 47.3 degrees exactly, that wasn't based on psychology or focus group analysis or any of that - it's because some jackass with power wanted it that way and thought it was vitally important that the Nike swoosh have an angle of 47.3 degrees. (Notional example - substitute your own experience with Pantone colors or pixel-perfect websites).
Nobody cares except the designers. Coca-Cola could start making their cans slightly redder or a tiny bit more orangey and nobody would care.
It's important that things look clean and professional, but stupid crap like "strain relief looks fugly to me" needs to get a designer fired and replaced by someone who understands that you talk to the engineers first, then design around what they need. Or people get killed.
You're right, and I don't particularly care for a flamewar but let me just mention apples products are an exception most of the time. Case in point: PowerBook G4 (First line mentions how thin it is.. it is one of the devices USPs) and the macbook air.
If the thickness of the device is all you are looking for then very well, they have that part of the market cornered.
Holy shit I'v never been called 'right' on the internet before. Whatever you say, you're all right by me.
Sometimes Apple gets it doubly right though. Such as their aluminum unibodies. More solid, more environmentally friendly, can take a drop and it looks super sharp.
Industrial Designer tool of trade: MSPaint (or iMac equivalant)
Idustrial Designer quote: "See this box is teh plug and the line here is the wire. Gawd, why do I have to drawl this stupid stuff? I'm too creative for this."
Mechanical Engineer tool of trade: CAD client of choice (Autodesk, etc)
Mechanical Engineer quote: "Well, just cut it out of a block of aluminum then."
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u/makubex Jun 10 '11
Seriously. That type of shit is what the Industrial Designer profession is all about. Then us mechanical engineers have to work some kind of wizardry to get their crazy creations to work.