So a few days ago I passed the three month mark with Case-mate. It's been a challenging and rewarding experience. I'm stoked that before Christmas most of the projects we've been working on will be launched, here's an article of one of the current projects. But that also means that most of the products we are working on will be launched before Christmas!! Time is the enemy and speed is key. I'm not worried, I'm part of a great team but there's no dening some stress.I'm learning more about the business side of design as well i.e: P.O's, sales, and even a bit about inventory. That whole "design for manufacturing" thing I learned in school has played a much larger part of what I do on a daily basis than I ever thought it would. With such a quick turn around on product the design process is important. But just as important is "getting it right the first time" as Prof. Fossick once told me. This doesn't necessarily relate just to the aesthetics but the features, interaction and even the graphic/logos on the product. This has been a bit hard becuase I like to get things done quickly, sometimes to quickly... I've had to slow myself down and give more thought on the front end (rough sketches in the notebook, talking about it, and even reading!). So when I go into CAD or more developed renderings I'm not wasting time on uncomplete idea but on a complete solution that I would WANT to see on a shelf.
On that same note, I'm learning some new tricks to get concepts out faster. Templates and bunkspeed help but sometimes it's making the choice between a hot rendering or a simple quick orthographic sketch. Sometimes this is an easy choice (time), other times I've had to go immediatly into CAD because I knew the question would be raised "how are we going to make that" and a cad model really helps to explain that. And *bonus* if they like it hot damn the CAD is already started/done!
Outside of work, being here in the real world has also brought its own set of challenges/rewards like having my transmission fail which resulted in an 800 dollar fix. But owning the best dog in the world and having my own place is very nice. Also I didn't realize how cheap I was. I thought it was a college phase but as an example I final broke down and bought a trash can for the apartment today. I'm cooking more too, saves a lot of money.
Anyway. I guess that's it for now.