Photo: Konstantin OLKHIN.
We start our conversation with Daria, as they say, from the basics.
– Why do we need industrial design?
“Industrial design refers directly to everything that industry produces, that is, to all mass-produced products,” answered Daria. – Starting with the furniture that surrounds us, gadgets, microphones. All thematic world, including heavy industry, transportation engineering, machine tools and equipment. All this is invented not only by engineers, but also by industrial designers. Therefore, in essence, industrial design shapes our environment. And not today, but what will happen tomorrow. We are working on projects that will appear in a year, three, five.
– What relevance does the topic of environmentally friendly design have for the industry?
– We pay close attention to social projects, including creating a barrier-free environment in passenger transportation. The transportation component in our National Center for Industrial Design is one of the key ones. And many of our developments and projects refer, among other things, to people with disabilities. This is a very important area that certainly needs attention.
DESIGN CODE
– At what level is Russian industrial design? We were able to do something the best we could, unique?
– We do this every day. In fact, first of all, in Russia there is definitely industrial design. And this is an industry that is developing very dynamically. And industrial design did not appear today, nor yesterday, nor in recent years, when it reached its peak. And in the Soviet Union there was also a large, complex and successful school of industrial design. We rely, among other things, on these traditions. But now the time has come to rethink the industrial design of Russian industry, so that our country has not only its own cultural code, but also a design code, the brand DNA of Russian industry. This is exactly what our efforts are aimed at.
– What could it look like?
– It could look fantastic. It is a painstaking job that will, of course, take a lot of time. And this will definitely be achieved not only thanks to the efforts of our National Center for Industrial Design Laboratory 2050, but we are here, in fact, as the meeting point of the entire professional community, because only together can we, joining forces, make Our industry is not only technologically advanced, innovative, but also recognizable by a system of some elements that form style all over the world. Anyone in any country, boarding a passenger train or going to work on any type of machine, must immediately assume that it is a Russian brand. There are already successful examples. We interact with the industrial partner Transmashholding. We created that brand DNA for them specifically in the railway equipment products so that it was recognizable. And we have created unifying stylistic cues that allow TMH products to be recognized around the world. The same can be done in all other areas.
HOW TO LEARN?
– What relevance does industrial design have as a profession? Where can you go to study to become an industrial designer?
– There are statistics from a fairly well-known recruitment agency that confirm that over the past year the demand for industrial designers in Russia increased by 31%. The demand for this profession has increased by a third. And we, for our part, understood long before that this profession is the profession of the future. Not all educational institutions in Russia can react and adapt so quickly to the new demands of the economy, which is why we have launched our own educational programs, including a master’s program at NUST MISIS.
If you suddenly wonder where to go to study, industrial design is a successful and in-demand profession, you won’t be left without a job. And the income level of industrial designers is high.
TRAIN OR KETTLE?
– What is more difficult to create: the industrial design of a train or a teapot?
– Neither one nor the other can be called simple or complex. Everything requires immersion, involvement, research, study of the market, the existing product line, technical requirements, restrictions, regulations, standards, safety requirements and the economic component. We cannot make a design that is so beautiful and so expensive. We must follow business objectives. Industrial design has to do with business, with competitiveness. Recently, the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs conducted a study. According to this report, 65% of companies with revenues exceeding 10 billion rubles consider investments in industrial design to be an investment in their own competitiveness. We have already decided that industrial designers are some kind of magicians.
– Why a little?
– It seems that everything has already been invented and done. How to do something new in design? Industrial design, on the one hand, follows the trends of industrial development and, on the other hand, largely determines these trends. Industrial design is the cradle of innovation. It is industrial designers who provide new technologies, new materials, new solutions, new ergonomics and study the user experience. And you and I, as users of the same devices, have moved forward in the last 5 to 10 years. Do you remember which phone you had 10 years ago and which one you have today? These are two big differences. Naturally, industrial design drives these trends.
