I will be graduating in May from Pratt Institute with a Bachelors of Industrial Design. Before starting at Pratt, I completed a two-year traditional boat building program at the International Yacht Restoration School in Newport, RI, after which I spent six years working as a boat builder/marine carpenter.
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I will be graduating in May from Pratt Institute with a Bachelors of Industrial Design. Before starting at Pratt, I completed a two-year traditional boat building program at the International Yacht Restoration School in Newport, RI, after which I spent six years working as a boat builder/marine carpenter.
As a designer I am interested in physical interactions. We live in an increasingly digital world, where more and more physical objects are being replaced by on-screen apps and services. In general I think this trend is great because it allows us to make less stuff and use fewer resources. The thing I think we need remember is that humans have more senses that just sight and hearing. We love to touch, taste and smell things. We form emotional bonds with things when we can pick them up and hold them or run our hands all over them. We love the smell of a new leather bag or the soft warmth of beautifully finished wood. We crave the visceral experience of something real. The fact that we interact with fewer and fewer physical objects increases the importance of those objects that we do interact with.
When I design an object, I ask why is this thing needed? How is it going to work? How is it going to look? How is it going to feel? Most importantly though, I ask how is the person interacting with this thing going to feel? Pleased? Amused? Fulfilled? Happy? Hopefully all of the above.
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