Industrial Design and I

To speak the truth, I’m not an industrial design student. You probably have noticed it before. I only come to this department once a week, for less than three hours. I am interested in industrial design industry, but I don’t have knowledge or experience about this subject like everyone else has in this class right now. To be honest I walk in quite scared whenever I come into the room every Monday; if I had known that this course was prepared for 70 junior ID students before the semester started, I may have just dropped this course and try to get into a class with students that share similar experience as mine. However being able to feel the atmosphere of different department and listening to ambitious students in higher grade really was an inspiring and unique experience for me. It seemed to me as if junior students were far more dedicated and professional about their major than any other sophomore students – listening to you talk made me little embarrassed, but very inspired. I must admit that this class was the only one that had me inspired so much after each class.

When we started to research timeline of history of a product, however, it probably was a less exciting moment for me than for the other students. Being a full-time illustration student now, there were times when I felt so detached from the class than any other students. Despite of my interest in industrial design, I couldn’t help but to keep thinking how all these studies may be useless for me later on. But as wrote and questioned myself, I realized that this class wasn’t only for RISD ’08 junior ID students, but for anyone who is a part of this culture we live in. I was surprised how a person so detached from ID like me, had mother who runs a company that imports and sells interior goods and father who worked in the field of electronics for over a decade. This course wasn’t ‘useless’ or ‘irrelevant’ from me. I already sent my mother a research paper I wrote about furniture as a reference, and I also was able to reply my father’s e-mail asking about nature-friendly products that he could get for his house in countryside, where he will reside after he retires. These experiences lead me to think, gee, if I could already make so many connections to the works I’ve been doing and my life, how important these knowledge will be to others?

Another thing that I was able to discover from this course was the field of my own interest within the ID industry. I found the topics of designs for those who needs, ‘green design’ and nature-inspired design the most interesting to me. In fact I think I have always been interested in nature than some others may have at my age; I had inherited my father’s interest, and he would always say that I would work at National Geographics when I grow up (which I kept denying, thinking that I will forced to live in tropical jungle – an idea which scared me quite a bit when I was eight). My father had not grown in a wealthy family as a child, and he had witnessed the impact of Korean War while he was very young. He knows importance of saving energy, money and environment, and his current occupation had not changed the nature of him; and now his daughter is here drawing forest and animals. It sure was a pleasant experience to understand myself as I explored the field of knowledge where I wasn’t exposed.

Now that the course is over I may never be able to be exposed in these people and environment I had for last two months. It is quite saddening I must say… however my interest in field of ID continues and maybe I will be able to apply for another liberal art for next year... Who knows?