Seed ideas for CEED — Tips from a designer

Can you please tell me what should one have do to be a good product designer. I mean, what are the prerequisites for entering M.Des. course like what software I should know, what books I should read ? I would be thankful for any help you give.

I’m a software professional who is keenly interested in product design and hoping to pursue it by taking up the CEED & DAT exams in Jan’11. Since you guys are also involved in the same area, I was therefore wondering whether any of you could answer a few of my questions about the test and maybe provide some tips, if any..

These are samples of CEED (Common Entrance Examination for Design) or M.Des. (Master in Design) related questions that we often receive. Well, here goes my answer…

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Design – Roadside Bench

“Your time starts now!”

Just 90 minutes.

Within this time, I need to visualize a good design, make isometric, plan and elevation drawings, dimension all the parts and give two cross section views.

The Test
I was attending the Entrance Test for a Product Design Course (M.Des.) at Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay (IITB). The question given to all the aspirants was to design a roadside bench for elderly people to rest in between long walks. The design should be attractive, should withstand all weathers and should be stackable for easy transportation.

A lot of images flew in my mind. I tried to remember whether there are any furniture designs that captured my attention before. Any design process, when bound by a time frame, results in a shabby product. But entrance tests need to be bound by time.

The Design
After fifteen – twenty rough sketches and 50 minutes, I managed to come up with a design.

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