Educating Industrial Designers for the Digital Age
Presenter: Sunand Bhattacharya, Autodesk, Inc.
Co-Presenter: Nick Allen, Intern, Stanford University/Autodesk, Inc.
Co-Presenter: Thom Tremblay, Autodesk, Inc.
Course Code: ED3777
Course Description
With the advent of ways to visualize ideas, develop design solutions, and rapidly prototype using digital
software technologies, traditional ways of teaching industrial design in the classroom environment are
lately being questioned by educators, employers, and students. The intent of this class is to present a
curriculum model for teaching industrial design using digital software technologies as and where
applicable. We will cover courses demonstrating the incorporation of digital software technologies for
ideation, modeling, project management, drafting, prototyping, analysis, and injection mold design.
Successful integration of this curricular effort into the discipline of industrial design is important for
bridging the gap between education and industry expectations. Select academics and industry
professionals will join us in a panel format to share their reactions to the curriculum model as well as to
provide insights, experiences, and validations.
Learning Objectives
At the end of this class, you will be able to:
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Identify gaps between current industry expectations and industrial design education curricular
outcomes from a digital design competency point of view
Demonstrate the benefits of Digital Industrial Design in the context of product development
workflow
Demonstrate the potential of improving overall productivity and efficiencies through the use of
digital design technologies
Incorporate 3D design software, as needed, into your industrial design programs and courses.
Connect with faculty peers and employers who have successfully incorporated digital tools into
their classroom
Educating Industrial Designers for the Digital Age
About the Speakers:
Presenter: Sunand Bhattacharya
As part of Autodesk’s global education team, Sunand Bhattacharya manages the Academic Segment for
Post-Secondary as their Learning Solutions Architect. He is responsible for strategy, management and
evangelization of Autodesk’s curricula for its global post-secondary academic markets. He specializes in
the application of design and interactive learning techniques for active and effective adult learning.
Sunand has over twenty six years of academic, management and design experiences in industry and
higher education. Prior to Autodesk, he was the Principle and Co-founding partner of Arjuna Learning
Designs LLC., a firm specializing in the creation of interactive learning objects to enhance quality of
teaching and learning. He has also been the National Director for Corporate Curriculum Development at
ITT Educational Services, Inc. , a tenured Professor of Industrial Design at Southern Illinois University,
Carbondale.
Co-Presenter: Nick Allen
Hailing from Portland, Oregon, Nick is a senior studying Product Design Engineering at Stanford
University. Nick has worked for Autodesk for the past two summers in both manufacturing and most
recently, RCE. At school, his focus is on product realization and manufacturing, as well as need-finding
and business design. While not studying or doing part-time work for Autodesk, Nick spends time creating
installation art, playing lacrosse, and serving on the leadership council of his fraternity.
Co-Presenter: Thom Tremblay
Thom Tremblay has been with Autodesk since 2000 and is the presently defining Autodesk education
strategy as the Global MFG Industry Manager for Postsecondary Education. Previously, Thom held the
roles of industry relationship manager and technical specialist. In his first seven years with Autodesk, he
worked with the sales team as a specialist using his industry experience to help customers find the best
combination of software and consulting for their specific needs. He has designed many products using
Autodesk® software including cabinets, boats, castings, electronics, and consumer goods. Thom is a
certified professional on Inventor® and AutoCAD®, and has also authored three titles on Autodesk
Inventor and is the co-author of a fourth title on the technology.
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Educating Industrial Designers for the Digital Age
Background:
Design and development of any product and its ultimate successful manufacture is a result of several
related disciplines working together by following a set of logical steps and processes called workflow.
Industrial Design, as a practice is an integral part of this workflow and does not exist in isolation within
the product development realm. In fact, Industrial Design as a profession is often considered to be the
‘glue’ around product development and manufacture.. Hence most of the disciplines that are part of
the workflow have to keep up with each other’s technology related enhancements to avoid ‘bottleneck’ situations that can ultimately affect productivity.
Digital Design Technologies in industry and its benefits:
Industry’s adoption and the true integration of digital design technologies into the multi-disciplined
overall product development processes has many benefits ranging from the ease of being able to
share, collaborate or co-create to improved overall workflow efficiencies. It also enriches the product’s
design quality due to incorporation of timely feedback from various stakeholders along the way (as
opposed to the traditional linear sequential process of sharing). This concurrent development reduces
the chances of errors and related expenses upfront in the design process. Digital design technologies
have also been instrumental in blurring many of the barriers that exist between the related disciplines
as there is more transparency when working closely together as part an overall project.
The Gap - Design Education not keeping pace with Industry:
Industry’s adoption of innovative digital solutions to improve productivity requires academia to
respond by keeping pace and ensuring that graduates are well prepared to face workforce demands.
Unfortunately, industrial design education has not changed much from its origins in terms of
embracing digital technology into its core curricular teaching practices. In contrast, other disciplines
such as Mechanical or Manufacturing Engineering have advanced by integrating contemporary digital
technologies into their curricular offerings. This disparate gap often leaves the graduating
industrial design student at a disadvantage. This is relatively true across the world. The fine line of
dependency between academia and industry is illustrated in the following diagram:
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Educating Industrial Designers for the Digital Age
The Problem: Barriers in integrating Digital Design Technologies into the standard
Industrial Design Curriculum:
There are several compelling factors that contribute to the digital design technology adoption gap.
Looking at these factors from various viewpoints:
The Design Educator point of view:
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Faculty are aware of the gap that exists between graduating designers/engineers and
Industry, but often lack the resources or manpower to address the issue
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Lack of awareness and availability of exemplary curricular case studies within the Industrial
Design Education Community demonstrating the benefits of ‘total product design process’
using digital solutions (from idea to a produced product).
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Lack of knowledgeable teaching experts who can help integrate technical skills with problem
solving abilities.
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Technology/Computing barriers such as:
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Educating Industrial Designers for the Digital Age
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Hardware/Software costs and disparity
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Availability of the correct software solution for the purpose and at the right time
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Poor interoperability between applications makes the process of designing cumbersome
and feels unnatural as opposed to manual techniques
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Large data files prevents collaborative development
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Time and cost for generating renderings or rapid prototypes not easily affordable.
The Industry Employer’s point of view:
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Students entering the workforce need to be proficient in a wide variety of technical skills
in order to do their jobs competently. Current gap between education and the workforce
makes expensive new-employee training necessary for fresh graduates.
The Student’s point of view:
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There often isn’t enough time during class or faculty available to help achieve any sort of
mastery of these skills
Hardware/Software costs and disparity
The Proposed Solutions:
Digital Industrial Design is a technology integration and thought leadership strategy in education. The
goal is to:
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Sensitize academia to the range of software solutions that exist today aligned with
‘workflow’ for ideation, visualization, modeling, analysis, detailing, rapid digital
design/prototyping and injection molding.
Present a blueprint for integrating digital design into various courses offered in a
standard industrial design program.
Software Solutions - The range of digital design solutions in the workflow context:
Autodesk’s manufacturing software suites and cloud based solutions today help fulfill many of the
stages within the standard design process starting from ideation/ concept development (using
Alias Sketch), project management (using PLM), Modeling (using 3D Max and Forge), Detailing
(using Inventor), Rapid Prototyping (using Inventor), Drafting (with AutoCAD), Engineering
Analysis (using Force Effects and CFD) and Injection Molding (using MoldFlow) and finally
resulting in an end product design (as illustrated).
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Educating Industrial Designers for the Digital Age
Many of these digital tools have to do with visualization, modeling and prototyping technologies that close
the gap between allied disciplines as well as with industry.
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Educating Industrial Designers for the Digital Age
A blueprint for integrating digital design solutions into various courses:
Snapshot of a standard four year Industrial Design Program (left) and courses (right - in orange) where
digital technologies can be integrated.
Snapshot of how multiple digital design solutions can be integrated into a single course.
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