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…

Coaching for CEED

As far as I know, there are no authentic coaching centers for CEED or for any other Design entrance exams. But there are a few people who say that they can give you the required coaching like the one mentioned in this website or this one. But if you happen to get a postal coaching from them, you’ll only receive the following books and they will charge a lot of money for them.

• Figure Study Made Easy by Aditya Chari.
• The Manorama Year Book

Both of these can be bought off the shelf from the nearest Crossword, Landmark or any other good book store. After that, it is just a matter of sitting down and practicing. Still if you think that coaching centers can help you, then send a mail to them and see what they say.

CEED Preparation

The only preparation for CEED is ‘practice.’ So buy the books that I mentioned earlier and start sketching. It will improve your visualizing skills. For the design thinking, buy and read some of the following books:

• Design of Everyday things by Donald A. Norman, Don Norman
• Design for the real world: Human Ecology And Social Change by Victor Papanek

Besides these, you’ll have have a lot of websites that will tell you about the various fields of Design.  My suggestion is to try focusing on the design stream that interests you. There are Product Design and Engineering, Industrial Design, Visual Communication, Animation, Interaction design and Mobility and Vehicle Design at IITs and IISc Bangalore. Visit the website ‘The World of Design in India‘ that tells you all that you need to know about the design streams available in India.

Also, you can look at the following websites to see the quality of professional work that is expected from people who are in the design industry:

• Product Design Forums- Industrial Design Community, Blog & Resources
• Coroflot – Design Jobs & Portfolios
• Behance Network – The Creative Professional Platform

Don’t worry if you are not as good as some of those guys. They have acquired a lot of experience, but you are just starting out. Just find your idol, try to become better than him. If you practice daily, you will be really good for CEED exam.

Cracking CEED

The only way is ‘Practice.’ Find a stream of design of your choice, read about it, find the experts and try to better them. Practice sketching the objects around you. To know more about the examination and M.Des., visit IIT Bombay’s CEED website and download the last year’s question paper. You’ll know the kind of questions that are asked and what you need to do.

Following are the institutions where Master in Design courses are held.

• Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore
• IIT Bombay
• IIT Delhi
• IIT Guwahati
• IIT Kanpur

All the best!

Additional Reading

• Teacup Blog: CEED Help by Prasanna Gadkari
• Here is the secret to creativity by antzFx
• Here is the secret to creativity… Reloaded by fullFx

Image Credits
Blackboard in the classroom by Kriss Szkurlatowski, Poland
Happy elves by Fran Gambín, Spain
Egg in C-Clamp by Shaun W, New York

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.

The Features
The points that I intended to convey were:

1. Three people can occupy the bench at a time. Only the central person is blessed with a contrivance to sit back and relax. Don’t ask me ‘why?’

2. The other two ‘extremists’ can sit in any direction. This is best suited for three strangers or enemies who don’t want to face each other but want to share the same platform!

3. ‘Holding holes’ are provided for umbrellas or walking sticks. This feature gives an opportunity for the local administration to start a ‘Lost and Found’ Department in the park that can generate a huge revenue.

The Result
After the entrance test, I was interviewed by two gentlemen. They wanted to know the material I chose, how the parts are interconnected and “Are the parts really stackable?” I think they soon found out that here is a person who knows nothing about product design or material properties.

Did I mention that I failed to get the M.Des. admission at IITB?

Design date: 19-June-2008