Product Designer Interview

The art of problem solving has taken a back seat in the race for entrance examinations and rankings. Its time to resurrect those skills !Shravan Murthy, our next pathbreaker, a Mechanical Engineer by chance and a designer by choice, freelances as Physical Product Design Development Specialist with primary focus on user interaction.Shravan talks to Shyam Krishnamurthy from The Interview Portal about how his hands-on experiences of building solutions and projects during college, transformed into a career in product design & development.For students, though technologies like 3D Printings and Robotics might be at the forefront of innovation, handyman skills give you the foundation to build upon !Growing up in a small family in the suburbs of Bangalore; I spent most evenings with friends playing outdoor games and sports. My life was influenced significantly by my siblings, parents & grandparents.My interests through the years kept changing but revolved around building things. I learnt significant handyman tasks by watching my father fix most things at home. Eventually I caught amateur skills in carpentry, plumbing, electrical, and masonry work. My tools are one of my prized possessions to date.While I learnt analytical thinking, problem solving and so many skills that I cannot remember now (from my father); my mother, a humble homemaker, taught me a great deal about life, emotions, caring about things, being assertive and cooking with love.My grandmother’s stories about Hindu mythologies and morals have shaped who I am significantly. These moral stories have guided me through some tough times and decisions.I played point guard in my school basketball team, and occasionally played the violin at events.What did you do for graduation /post-graduation?I’m a Mechanical engineer by chance, designer by choice. I have been designing products and product experiences for nearly a decade now. I have designed a few products that were featured on the Shark Tank India TV series too!What were some of the drivers that influenced me to pursue such an offbeat, unconventional and uncommon career?An early interest in building things, crafting small solutions for my problems eventually caught up through my days of graduation. I started working on projects and products right when I was still in college.In addition, I made it a point to attend any and all exhibitions happening in & around Bangalore. Most of these had exhibitors from across the world advertising their fabulous products. This exposure was critical in shaping ideas and solutions that I’d be building later.A combination of all these influenced me down the path of Product design & development.How did you plan the steps to get into the career you wanted? Or how did you make a transition to a new career? Tell us about your career pathWith hands-on experiences of building solutions and projects during college, combined with online courses on social entrepreneurship and product design; I started practicing building new products and product experiences.My internship at Sharpline Automation, Mumbai gave me a deeper understanding of client requirements and building special purpose devices. My internship was focused on understanding the client requirements for special purpose machines, design and development of the machines to automate specific manual tasks in order to increase productivity.My training at Bosch Bangalore & DIMO – Mercedes Benz Training taught me about service practices and structures that are essential for products.My training program at Bosch Bangalore was primarily on automobile systems including fuel injection, braking, and safety mechanisms in modern automobiles.My training at DIMO – Mercedes Benz, Colombo had been on hands on maintenance and service procedures.I began sourcing printed merchandise for college events while studying; it followed by building websites and smartphone applications. Eventually after graduation, I started taking up product design projects from my connections. My experience of sourcing and merchandising helped scale to vendors of various services.All of experience led me back to Product design and development. My experiences of building special purpose machines, sourcing and merchandizing made the transition easier.Can you share more details of your work? What kind of products have you designed?I have worked on an array of products including medical equipment, industrial products, educational aids, and toys. A series of redesigned heritage toys that I designed for a brand named “Desi Toys” a couple of years ago were featured on the Season 2 of Shark Tank.The series of Redesigned Heritage Toys for “Desi Toys” featured on Shark Tank Season 2.An Inhaler with inbuilt counter designed for a large Pharmaceutical brand.A children’s wooden toy scooter – designed to be foldable and height adjustable.An educational aid kit designed for school children from classes 8 through 12, building over 700 mechanisms to demonstrate mathematical formulae.An industrial desiccant breather designed for industrial applications of moisture control within oil sumps.How did you get your first break?My first break was with a reference from an old friend for a product design project, designing a dismantled type handcycles.Although the product design had a significant impact, it served as a great starting point.Although my prior experiences of sourcing, merchandizing and building machines complemented my skills, my first break of building products propelled my career path on a trajectory.What were some of the challenges you faced? How did you address them?Challenge 1: Gathering consistent clientele to keep you afloat as a self-employed professional.Challenge 2: Building a network of service providers, vendors and contractors that support you throughout.Challenge 3: Consistent vision and moving toward your goal without distractions.With time and consistent efforts toward building a network of vendors and clients we got through these challenges.Where do you work now?

What problems do you solve?I work as a self-employed professional consultant with a team of contract employees. Patience, analytical thinking, and problem solving are critical skills required for the job.My work is product design & development, with primary focus on user interaction. My customers are small businesses and startups since it becomes very expensive for them to have internal Research and Development teams.My work begins with User & Market research to understand how the users are, what they expect from the product, what is the market size for one such product, what other competition exists in the market which are similar.This is followed by deriving a series of design criteria which forms the basis for the product design and features to be included. In addition, special attention is given to understand the economic feasibility and materials that can be used for the product.The actual design begins at this stage, with software tools that are particular to the materials used and processes involved.Next step is prototyping the product design with simpler materials including Wax, Clay, Wood, 3D Printing, Plastic models to verify the designs and functional aspects.Eventually the final preparations for the product manufacturing is undertaken to suit the scale of manufacturing.Once the product is launched, a series of user feedback and tests are conducted to ensure the desired outcome is achieved. Further iterations, if necessary, are undertaken to address any discrepancies.I don’t have a typical day; every day is different. From product research, market research, surveys, interviews, product designing, managing vendors, client reviews, and many more to do on different days.I love that I can build products that impact lives, make lives of people better in their own little way.How does your work benefit society?My work helps people live better, build experiences & memories, spread happiness & joy.Tell us an example of a specific memorable work you did that is very close to you!A number of years ago, I designed a series of wooden products which was a delightful experience in itself. A couple of months later, I ran into an acquaintance who was raving about how good the products were, unaware of the fact that I had designed them. I didn’t mention that I was the designer behind the products till date.Your advice to students based on your experience?Always be open to trying new things, you never know what you’ll end up doing or liking for that matter. Most people talk about passions and that you should go looking for it, I believe passion is what drives you. The sooner you dabble with, the sooner you find that one thing that gives you the pleasure of just doing it.Future Plans?Continue to build more products that challenge the status quo, make lives better, and shape exquisite product experiences. I believe in working with smaller teams since it makes for less noise and helps focus.I’m just an advocate for the user, designing products for the end users.Please tell us about your work Shravan, just out of the Satyajit Ray Film Institute, wants to put his editing degree to good use in the Telugu film industry SHRAVAN KATIKANENI does not believe in planning much into the future, "I know now I am speaking to you and then…Original Source : The Interview Portal Gaming is an integral part of every kid’s life. A make believe world that helps us forget our worries and channel our aggression in a virtual environment. However some people transform this make believe world into a career. Shyam Krishnamurthy from The interview Portal…Intangible experiences, the ones we feel, create a lasting impact on us. Remember the invisible brand, Dolby Digital, that has been synonymous with creating immersive sound experiences in a theater hall? With that comes the need for Product designers who need to design similar intangible experiences. Akshay Dhamapurkar, our next…

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