Crossroads

This blog post is something I’ve been looking forward to doing for some time now! I wanted to take this chance to describe and reflect on my journey as a designer, as an attempt to provide insight into one of the many pathways and opportunities that can stem from industrial design - to share my experience of dealing with the crossroads that delimitate product design, emerging technologies and visualisation.

Eyes Forward

Ever since a young age, I have enjoyed opening up products and examining the circuitry, feeling the texture of the plastic enclosure or gleaming with excitement at the thought of an LED lighting up. Even now, some of my favourite products are the ones that are meticulously crafted with precision and thought – there's nothing quite like the feeling of seeing a ray of sun hit a reflective Microsoft logo encased in magnesium. I think it's this love of product design, and perhaps more specifically the visualisation of relationships between materials that encouraged me to pursue a career in design.

Passion is still only just the start, and as I've come to learn over my time at QUT, having a clear direction for where you want your carrier to go is just as vital. I still vividly recall my first lecture back in 2017. I was a freshman and nervous about selecting industrial design as a carrier choice. In high school I had explored subjects like graphics and art – yet ID presented itself as a medium for both – and so much more.

Looking back at this uncertain period, I remember bumping into Michael Williams, a 3rd-year student at the time, and a past BMW Group intern and Design Associate at the Academy. He introduced me to QUT’s Design Pilots, a large team of multidisciplinary students who were passionate about their careers and altruistic in their approach to building a collaborative design community. Through frequent encounters, I came to realise early on just how vast the design field is – It ranges from the innovation of new technologies in complex medical fields to the manufacturing practices of prolific furniture brands. It's versatile. The job of an industrial designer has evolved throughout the ages, from the rise of the manufacturing prowess of the industrial revolution to the internet of things and Industry 4.0. This has highlighted the importance of having a clear vision, much like driving a car, you need to look 50 meters ahead to keep the vehicle on the road, and by association keep your career on track.

Personally, I believe that design should be used to help people, whether that manifests as a form of communication for different disabilities or through secondary means pertaining to quality-of-life workflow changes – design should be, and largely is human-centric. It has only been very recent that I've been fortunate enough to work with the talent at BMW and connect with some of QUT’s alumni who have introduced me to the potential of 3D visualisation in emerging technologies. It is fascinating to watch how the various design factors such as form, colour and material, interplay as assets within a larger dynamic synthetic environment. BMW and NVIDIA especially use these photorealist assets for Ai applications to positively impact logistic workflows on a global scale. After working with the visionary team over in Munich, I now find my passion for visualisation sway towards the implications of context-awareness and robotics; It is truly an exciting time to be a designer and I am excited to be a part of one of the teams pushing these technologies for impact and influence in other fields.

BMW Experience

In late 2019, Dr Rafael Gomez encouraged me to apply for an opportunity to Intern at BMW, to have the opportunity to embark on a years internship in Munich. Reluctant to leave my studies behind, I turned down the opportunity at first as I wanted to graduate before exploring opportunities within the industry. However, during a study trip to Japan, I quickly realised how much I still needed to learn and after some reassurance from my colleagues, I found myself on a plane headed to Munich – an experience that I've recounted in my blog post ‘boundless’. Interning at BMW, and by extension Idealworks, has been the most influential experience of my life thus far. I often refer to a quote by Bruce Lee:

“If you want to learn to swim jump into the water. On dry land, no frame of mind is ever going to help you.”

This quote encompasses the experience of being involved – completely immersed rather, by unique workflows within autonomous robotic development. Having the opportunity to collaborate in a dynamic office filled with a cross-disciplinary team of 3d artists, UX designers, computer engineers and software programmers enabled me to explore a wide range of design deliverables including 3D assets for synthetic data-set creation, marketing visualisations and simulation-ready models. Our team was given a rare insight into the soft skills and practises needed to flourish in a dynamic work environment while also collaborating with remote teams and managing deadlines during a pandemic.

Coming back to QUT, I aim to bring the hard skills, collaborative experience and deadline management tools developed while in Munich to the BMW group + QUT Design Academy. I'm looking forward to working with the other associates and continuing to build new products, experiences and platforms for our parent company while growing in my role as a designer.

Parting Thoughts

If you are lucky enough to study at QUT and considering applying for an Academy internship, I would highly recommend it. The program is a great platform to work with industry-leading developers over in Munich and places you at the cutting edge of emerging digital technologies. We leverage your skillsets towards meaningful projects with global scaleability while allowing you to rapidly develop as a professional designer. In addition, the opportunity also widens your horizons and opens new pathways that change the way you approach design. We also have some amazing projects that could even lead to further international opportunities, or a chance to join our growing team.

Until next time,

Epi Pereira
Junior Design Associate