Re: Please, I don't want your cool hack
Dieter Rams prefers the term 'Form Engineer' to 'Product Designer' because he feels the term 'designer' has either been devalued or is widely misunderstood as just being the appearance of an object. There's soon to be a film about him with a soundtrack by Brian Eno. ( https://www.dezeen.com/2018/02/27/trailers-reveal-upcoming-dieter-rams-documentary-gary-hustwit/ )
Disclaimer: I studied Product Design BSc, and not Industrial Design Ba which my lecturer fondly called a bunch of magic marker pen fairies (fairy referring to a shallow fluffiness, not a comment on their sexuality). We won't go into what he called the Graphic Design students from across the car park - though they were known for having expensive haircuts and riding micro-scooters... and their G3 iMacs would 'beachball' at the nearest whiff of multiple Photoshop layers.
Product Design BSc involved maths, kinetics, mechanics, manufacturing techniques, supply chains, market research, material selection, project management, model making, photography, information ergonomics and UI design, CAD. The aim wasn't to make us experts, but to give us enough understanding to talk to experts.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
