projects

Vinai Kumar

Projects

Vinai Kumar

Product Design Projects

Visuals from the Work of Vinai Kumar (Mr.) Professor of Design and Design Management

Bulldozer

Styling of the Dozer E-815 - Under development at Hindustan Motors Ltd Tiruvallur, Chennai

The competition was with D-155A of BEML. The first prototype scheduled for April 1997.

The final product is based on user research, styling research and value engineering with the following

features:

A. User-centred design

B. Coordinated visual grammar resulting in the integrity and consistency of form and style

C. Appropriate colour schemes and graphics to make an industrial product look more humane and pleasing

D. Overall integration and optimisation of styling, ergonomics, competitive benchmarks, manufacturability

and ease of general maintenance.

Vinai Kumar Professor of Design and Design Management April 2015 Ahmedabad Gujarat INDIA


Call Centre Furniture

Client: Space Design, New Delhi,

Year 2001

Buyers demanding better looking furniture with ergonomic features yet manufactured with existing skills of

average quality and low cost facilities.

A. Simple yet elegant details and appearnce

B. Ease of manufacturing with existing setup

C. Knock-down structures

D. Easy maintenance


Vinai Kumar

Students’ Projects


Form Studies

The foundation of Industrial Design is based on the creation and innovation of aesthetic, artistic and stylistic

forms in communication and 3d artefacts.

The beginning years of a designer are spent on mastering skills, knowledge and processes to achieve

engaging and pleasant forms that are compatible with the intended function and usability of artefacts.

From a user- and human-centric perspective the purpose of Form Studies is to provide a pleasant and

engaging emotional experience to the target users.

The following visuals of the work of my students are representative of some directions and processes

employed in Form Studies with some end results.

Anirudh Mahanta UID 2014 Aashna Shah UID 2014 Rinal Patel UID 2014

SPA Delhi MDes students' 1998



Simple Product Design (SPD) project is the first idea-to-a-final-product design experience the product design

students have with the purpose of understanding the strategic design, and design process and methods.

Students work individually on researching interesting problems and products in their immediate

environments and develop a project with the aim of learning research and observation skills, creativity and

innovation skills, modelling and prototyping skills, and validation skills from end-users' and other relevant

stakeholders' perspective. A particular emphasis is put on the process of low-fidelity through high-fidelity

modeling and prototyping process.

The following visuals of the work of my students proide some glimpses into the SPD projects.

Simple Product Design Project

Kshitij Anand UID 2014 Raji Devtha UID 2014

Amogh UID 2014

A student of MDes SPA New Delhi 1998



Techno-Aesthetic Design project addresses the macro-form and micro-detailing of a product from point of

view of appropriate imagery, aesthetics and styling. In particular, the project deals with the role

manufacturing technologies and management in achieving the desirable 'form' of products without

compromising on their functional value.

The design process involves understanding the ways the product under consideration and its competing

products are made using appropriate materials and manufacturing processes. The discipline of semiotics is

used to develop engaging imageries in the product form and its micro details.

The following visuals of the work of my students proide some glimpses into the Techno-Aesthetic Design.

Techno-Aesthetic Design Project

Telephone Aashna Shah 2014 UID

Drill Machine Devanshi Mehra 2014 UID

Candle Stand A PD Student at NID 1987

Clamp Meter Sridhar Reddy SPA Delhi 1996

Spanners George Mathews 1993 NID

OTG Amit Garg SPA Delhi 1996 LCV

Ridhu Sehgal SPA Delhi 1996

Vacuum Cleaner Vikram B. SPA Delhi 1997



Interaction Design project is aimed at creating easy-to-use user interfaces of products that intrinsically

require exchange of information between the product and the user. This project employs extensive use of

physical and environment ergonomics, cognitive ergonomics and semiotics. In addition the required level of

aesthetic and styling treatment is also carried out.

The design process involves user research at all stages of product development in order to validate the

proposed solution iteratively till a satisfactory user interaction performance and satisfaction level is

achieved. The projects culminates in a high-fidelity prototype.

The following visuals of the work of my students proide some glimpses into the Interaction Design projects.

Interaction Design Project

Devanshi & Sahil UID 2014 MICROWAVE Oven

Overhead Projector REMOTE

Washing Machine CONTROL Panel

Bhakti Patel Rinal Patel Neer Shah UID 2014

Jaladhi Shah Aashna Shah UID 2014



Technically-Complex Design Project

Both technologies that enable new and better functions in a product as well as manufacturing technologies

have been advancing rapidly over the past three decades. This trend offers both a challenge and an

opportunity for designers to develop products that solve users' problems elegantly while being easy to

manufacture to a desired level of overall quality

This project involves user research, technology research, and ideation and product development in a

collaborative environment with technologists and other relevant stakeholders. The emphasis is on being

creative and innovative in applying user insights and technologies to propose compelling value to buyers.

The following visuals of the work of my students proide some glimpses into the Technically-Complex Design.

Handheld Data Terminal for Inventory Management Sunil Sudhakaran & Manoj Pavitran NID 1993

Shashank Deshpande et al. NID 1993

Mukul Goyal et al. et al. NID 1993

Sathish G. NID 1993 George Mathews NID 1993



System Design Project

Developing a product in our complex and dynamic social and business environment requires simultaneous

consideration of multiple influencing factors spread across technology, peoples preferences, competition,

environment, political landscape, market characteristics, law, and many others.

The system design project is aimed at imparting skills in addressing multiple stakeholders' demands and

expectations on the one hand, and developing product features and functions that take into consideration a

diverse nature of users and their use scenarios. The process is interdisciplinary and collaborative with

continuous prototyping and evaluation.

The following visuals of the work of my students proide some glimpses into the System Design.

MCB Boards Pankaj Verma NID 1993

Coffee Table Sathish G. NID 1993

This is a value engineering driven design project

A sponsored degree

project.

This is a traditional crafts based design project A sponsored degree project


Vinai Kumar

Institutional Development Work

Some institutional development work at reputed design institutes

Vinai Kumar

I have developed or contributed to the development of some educational activities and departments at

various institutions. The important ones are:

1. Development of Ergonomics and Human-Computer Interaction Activities at the National Institute

of Design (NID) Ahmedabad

Developed and headed the unique and full-fledged Ergonomics and Human-Computer Interaction

Activities between 1981 and 1992. Supported by some of my colleagues, I at pioneered this

important design area in the early years of UX (user experience) design that is so widely known

now.

2. Development of a Design Foundation programme at the Footwear Design and Development

Institute (FDDI) Noida

Majorly a technical and engineering institute with a visionary and open minded MD who wished to

introduce the discipline of design in the institute.

3. Development and conduct of Systems Thinking and Semiotics based Fashion Design programme at

Leather Dept at the National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT), New Delhi for three years

Introduced the strategy and process for developing form and style in garments with deeper and

systematic thought process in order to achieve elegance and minimise kitsch and distracting

randomness

4. Development of the Department of Industrial Design at the School of Planning and Architecture

(SPA), New Delhi

Systems thinking in design, industry and execution focused, establishing a ‘culture’ of design

learning and education.

5. Mentoring the Foundation Programme at the Jewellery Design and Training Institute (JDTI),

Noida

Mentored and conducted design programmes at this newly established institute.

6. Development of the department of Strategic Design Management (SDM), National Institute of

Design (NID) Ahmedabad-Gandhinagar

PG programme in SDM was established in 2007 with an intention to connect design with

businesses with a management perspective. However, there were a lack of integrity and

purposefulness in the curriculum vision and structure. I was requested by the Director to review

the curriculum and develop high quality courses and ecosystem.

projects

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