SPOTLIGHT Product Designer Focus
10 years ago, would have been unheard of. We don’t really expect our deliveries to come with a postage charge, and can you imagine paying for the Metro? And, of course, you expect fee WiFi. Is there a danger that creativity is being reduced to a commodity and expectations of what are paid for are being reduced? Are product designers expected to create concepts without charging for their time or only through royalties? Craig Jones is very clear that designers should be paid for all elements and asks… ‘What other qualified profession expects this? It is a cultural indictment, in my opinion. The issue we are facing is that some designers are okay with this approach.’ David Fox tells us… ‘When you start in business you have to (accept no upfront fee). I pitched four chairs: Korus, Kruze, Edge 15 and Smile, but nowadays I work on commission only, unless I have a genius idea where I think, ‘That would definitely fit that manufacturer’.’ Barry Jenkins adds… ‘In my experience, clients in the furniture industry rarely accept
fixed fees, preferring to hedge the risk of product development by working on a royalty basis. This is not so common in other product design sectors where the sales volumes are far greater. However, royalties can be beneficial for the designer, providing that the product is marketed well and sold long enough to hit the threshold that triggers royalty payments.’ Perhaps not surprisingly, David Fox suggests that royalties and some fee work is the way forward because both parties are heavily invested in making the design work. You would have thought that product designers are product geeks doing well in pub quizzes and spotting products in films. Considering how many great designs have gone before, we wanted to uncover how important it is to understand the history of product design in order to be effective today. Julian Evans tells us… ‘Having knowledge of what has gone before and what is current works in two ways. It serves as a framework for our decision making and protects us from unwittingly
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designing products that could be seen as copies. It can also work as inspiration and a yardstick. Existing products can be a useful reference, allowing us to see a physical representation of how particular forms and materials might look or how technical details have been resolved. This knowledge can be extrapolated and utilised in a ‘if that worked there then maybe this idea should work here’ kind of way. All creative individuals, regardless of discipline, probably do this whether knowingly or not.’ David Fox adds… ‘You can’t be knowledgeable about every design that’s ever gonebefore, but ones that are in the public eye, you can be influenced by – but shouldn’t go too close. They are classics for a reason, and hard to better.’ Craig Jones says… ‘For us, it is very important to understand the past so we can redefine the future. Knowledge of market sectors and product history plays a large part in any project as it provides a platform and is less likely to result in repetition.’ w