“Design is a religion.” This is my answer to the question “How do you see design?” You might think my answer is open to interpretation. How you would answer this question might be different. But your answer could help determine if you will choose an education in design, and have a professional career as a designer. I will explain how I selected the path to study industrial design in college.
I was born and raised in Iran, and studied for over three years at Islamic Azad University, following my graduation from high school. Students attending high school in Iran are offered different paths to select what they will study and learn; I was fortunate to attend a high school that allowed me to choose a major earlier than college and work towards a goal to receive a high school diploma as a “computer illustrator,” which consisted of a combination of graphic design and computer science. This started me on my current path to becoming an industrial designer. While still in Iran, I had my first experience studying industrial design at a university. The focus of the class was to learn to draw by hand. In the beginning, the professor of the class only allowed drawing with an ink pen (not a pencil). The reason for this was to teach students to draw without making mistakes, and with perfect lines. Since drawing with an ink pen is permanent, this helped give me the confidence to draw and sketch. It also taught me how to draw using different types of techniques with a pen, that I still use whenever I am sketching part of a design to this very day.
After I immigrated to the United States of America and moved to the state of Georgia, I first enrolled as a college student at Savannah College of Art and Design (also known as SCAD) . Any student studying design at SCAD will tell you that SCAD is an acronym for “Sleep Comes After Death”. This shows how challenging the courses are and implies that you are always working on projects, without much sleep. After researching becoming an industrial designer, I transferred to the School of Industrial Design at Georgia Tech. I did this because I believe that the academic requirements and professors at Tech will better prepare me to become a successful industrial designer. I know designers attend and graduate from many different schools all over the world, but I believe a degree from Georgia Institute of Technology in industrial design will help separate me from everyone else in the workplace and better prepare me for a successful career as an industrial designer.
As an undergraduate, I have been fortunate to be employed full-time and part-time and have internships at several companies that have a different focus on design and also worked for myself; I have been able to learn computer programs to work as a graphic designer, fashion designer, industrial designer, intern architect in a commercial architecture firm, and an interior designer. All these work experiences have taught me several things, and I know that my passion for industrial design has been always true. In each workplace, I have learned how to work as part of a team and collaborate as a designer number of different types of products and deliverables. Studying and working in different countries has also taught me that working in the design industry comes with responsibility. I know in Iran, most companies prefer design items to be imported rather than to be designed and produced locally because it’s cheaper even though most of the time the import quality is lower than what is locally produced. This means a local industrial designer must be able to accept the challenge to have good, economical designs that would be more desired than imports.
I am very aware of the effect good industrial design has on the public and consumers. My designs can help determine good health, happiness, and to have an improved or better quality of life. That is why I believe great design is an essential human right and is critical for our survival and to have a great quality of life.
Now that you know how I feel about design, how do you see design? For me “Design is a religion” because any good design requires passion and sacrifices, just like any religion does. Religion also can give comfort and happiness to its followers, and design has the same ability to provide to its consumers.
