PARC STUDIO

It’s time to evolve…

As a designer, once you graduate from university. Your work skill set is somehow dictated by the needs of the industry and the business you work for. As we’ve witnessed in recent years that the way we live is evolving quickly due to technology. We are currently going through the 4th Industrial revolution and with it, the challenges and opportunities are arising. What does this mean for creatives and designers?

We should be at the forefront leading and creating opportunities for the ever-changing times. Covid-19 has just added fuel to the fire so everything has been accelerated. The consumers we are building new shopping and lifestyle habits. The way we’ve been designing which had more emphasis on the aesthetics rather than function has to change. Creative and designers core job role is to create experiences and products to enhance our lives and solve problems. As designers our goal is to ‘improve the everyday experience.’

The technology sector has been leading this for decades at a pace. Look at likes of Apple, Samsung and other companies who constantly innovate and improve our daily lives. With an ever-increasing focus on suitability for humanity and rise of the digital world, we are going to be needing less and less physical products but more of digital experience products. Most of our creative and design skillsets lie with the physical products in retail. This is why it’s important to acknowledge the changes and we have to evolve our skills set to create opportunities in the near future. We haven’t seen this kind of creativity nor innovation in the retail sector. It’s time to evolve!

The skills we would need as a designer which are non-negotiable and the only way to evolve are:

1/ Creative thinking and communication. Creative thinking will be a part of product design to create experiences for the digital world. With an emphasis on the digital world and virtual experiences, we now have to design experience into the products. This can only start with authentic and original thinking. As designers, we will be spending more time thinking then sketching. You have to have a unique story to tell verbally and visually. Think of it as product we design is a souvenir of our creative thinking process to make positive impact on everyday experience. We have to create a positive emotional connection between our design and consumer. Product should be a result of your creative journey.

2/ Function and Beauty. Where we’ve been focusing on the aesthetics of design for a long time, we have to innovate the functionality of the product going forward. We all need fewer products in our lives therefore when people buy new product, it must enhance their lives not just functionally but also emotionally.

3/ Understanding material and engineering.  As designers, we also have to be material engineers. To innovate and create products for the future. We have to understand materials and how to manipulate them to create sustainable products. We have to understand the construction and manufacturing process in detail to innovate. Become an alchemist.

4/ Flexibility and willingness to learn constantly. With so many new materials being developed and with an ever-changing world. We almost have to start from scratch. Be thirsty for new knowledge and become a design student once again.

We will be designing fewer products but will be more creative than ever as we are now creating different forms of product for difference channels which are digital and physical. Be you, the creator and get back to the core of why we are designing.