JMU Industrial Design

INDUSTRIAL DESIGN @ JMU:

“In most people's vocabularies, design means veneer… But to me, nothing could be further from the meaning of design. Design is the fundamental soul of a human-made creation that ends up expressing itself in successive outer layers of the product or service.” -Steve Jobs


INTRODUCTION:

Look around you. Notice your shoes, your watch or the device you are viewing this web

site through. Someone thought about the style, color and materials of those products. They planned the way they were manufactured and how users would interact with them. They develop the stuff of our daily lives. WHAT IS INDUSTRIAL DESIGN?:

Industrial design (ID) blends together art, engineering, business and social science. IDers style and color. They house inner workings in beautiful, ergonomic, marketable shells. They study people and drive consumer behavior. And that’s just the beginning…

Designers experiment and invent. They use their hands, as well as computers, to create drawings and prototypes of new product ideas. They sketch, render, cut, saw, sand and paint. Designers ask the right questions. They solve problems by doing research – interviewing and observing the behavior of end-users. They create solutions that serve needs and solve problems based on those interactions. And, as ID evolves, designers are moving beyond just creating consumer goods. They drive innovation and business strategy – designing systems and services. They use their skills to interface with complex, “wicked” problems to instigate communication, foster collaboration, and spur action. ABOUT OUR SHOPS AND LABS:
The design students at JMU have supervised access to and receive instruction in a variety of fabrication and digital technologies. There is a complete wood shop filled with hand tools and power tools, a steel shop with welding, bending and cutting machines, and a high technology prototyping lab including CNC, laser cutting, thermo-forming, and 3D printing. In addition, we have a brand new Macintosh computer lab with 2D and 3D drawing and modeling programs. Below is a list of the major machines and programs you can find in our facilities:

WOOD, METAL & PROTOTYPING LABS EQUIPMENT LIST:
• ShopBot 3-Axis CNC Router (5ft x 9ft bed)
• Epilog Helix 60-Watt Laser
• Formec Thermo-Former
• SawStop Table Saw
• Jointer
• Planer
• Lathes
• Band Saws
• Hollow Chisel Mortising Machine
• Panel Saw
• Shaper
• Hand-held Routers, Sanders, and Drills
• Various Hand Tools

IMAC COMPUTER LAB EQUIPMENT AND SOFTWARE LIST:
• MakerBot Replicator2 3D Printer
• Rhinoceros 3D Modeling Software (run via Parallels)
• Autodesk Building Design
• Autodesk Revit
• Google SketchUp Pro
• Adobe Creative Suite
• Microsoft Office for Mac
• HP Large Format Printers
• HP LaserJet Printers

POTENTIAL CAREERS IN INDUSTRIAL DESIGN:
• Product Design
• Furniture Design
• Packaging Design
• Transportation Design
• Lighting Design
• 3D Computer Aided Drawing (CAD)
• Model Maker
• Entrepreneur
• Social Innovator
• & Many More!