Blog 4

One thing we as designers should always keep at the back of our minds is how you’ll manufacture your design and how each method works with its respected expenses. the manufacturing processes never really entered my head before starting college. Even when we were tough on all the manufacturing processes in our “Manufacturing Tech” module it never really stuck. Whilst I found the processes interesting and found the theory easy to understand and reproduce on a test, I never found myself thinking much about it when I was designing my other projects.

This is where our materials module comes in a year later. For one of our assignments, we were shown how to do casting on an existing product. This product being a simple hot wheel’s car.

This process was truly an eye opener for me. Experiencing one of the manufacturing methods that I was taught gave me an idea of the time and effort that it takes for replicating a simple design like the car.

From the vacuum seal to get rid of bubbles, to using a toothpick to make sure the material reaches every nook and cranny of the mould. Even the delicacy of pouring the silicone mould and pouring the material into the hardened silicone mould. Each step of the process is very easy to mess up and requires a lot of attention.

This not only expanded my views on manufacturing as an art in general but also the people who work in these factories. The respect I gained for the workers that do this every day is immense. Either if they are a small-time company or a company that uses machines, I can truly appreciate the effort it takes to create something.

There also comes an important understanding that these people will be creating my ideas, bringing my work into reality and the sad reality that there are people that don’t care about the exploitive parts of this industry.

This is the reason I believe every designer should experience what’s its like to create these parts. Yes, theory goes a long way, but physical experience goes farther. It breeds a deeper understanding with the subject matter.