Austen Miller

With origins in the cartoon creation of superhero comics, the industrial designer became a tool of the emerging car industry. Wanting to find a vision for the future, Henry Ford began using artists to challenge his engineers with visions of exciting new automobiles. Today, the product designer is a master of more than just a marker pen. As art has gone digital, and computers now aid engineering, the tools for design sit in one workstation. For the da Vinci’s among us, ideation has an amazing medium; we have the tools to visualise our ideas, engineer the design, test the results, instruct machinery, and even print out our creations in 3D! Now that all manners of technology are so accessible, and you don't need to own a factory to make products, the modern product designer has a lot bigger tool box. So who is a product designer, how do they think, are you one, and if you're not, how can you get more from them? I want to use this site to explore the future role of product design in business, and to help those that already recognise its value to get the most from it.