What the f*ck in Product Design?

This is a question that i have been asking ever since i first joined the course. Does it have to be a product? Is there a perfect way to design? Is there any sense to design?

When I first heard about Contemporary Design Culture module, I had no idea what to expect, and it was nothing like I expected. It is completely different to any other module previous and immediately peaked my interest. The idea of learning the theory of design is something that I would always be very interested in and I believe it is a important part of anything to understand the theory of it.

Product design is such a strange course and unlike anything else I had even considered doing before I researched it. But the more I looked into, the more intrigued I became, until it was the only course that I truly wanted to do. And when I started this module, my interest was peaked even more and I was immediately hooked on the ideas and questions that were being thrown out in class. The main topic of debate was about whether design was art or engineering. This is a question that I feel is an essential part of the module and that I was thinking about, ever since people were asking me why I didn't do engineering. I believe that design is the perfect combination of both art and engineering. You must create something that looks both aesthetically pleasing and it has to function. For some, like myself, i enjoy the problem-solving engineering side to design. Figuring out how to make something work or how you can improve an already existing product. But on the other hand, you could have a revolutionary idea, but if it doesn't look well or you are unable to convey that idea, it could be completely useless and never even get off the ground. That is way you must find he perfect balance between engineering and art in design.

We were also asked what was our design philosophy, which to be honest I had no idea what to think. I hadn't ever considered this, ad probably never would've without this module. It wasn't until we started to look at designers such as Dieter Rams and others. Ram's 10 principles of good design is something that you wouldn't consider unless its actually written down. Something like "Good design is aesthetic" is something that would've always thought is common sense when it comes to design. But when you write it down and have to defend it, you realize that it is much more than just making something look nice. I still have not come to a conclusion about my own design philosophy, but hoping that this module will give me a clearer view of it, as well as reading other peoples philosophies to adapt my own