Samuel McDonnell: Integrated Product Design Student
Sam: So integrated product design to me is sort of a blend between a few areas of design. Its more creative than engineering, its more practical than art, and its more hands on than something like graphic design.
The best part about my degree I would have to say is the people, because once you remove the facilities, the tools, the laser cutters, the 3D printers and classrooms, all of that, what you are left with is the people in the institution, the people who know all the tips and tricks to pass on to the students, the people who will pass on all their knowledge about how to get where you want to be.
My highlight of uni so far, last year I worked on a project, a group project between semesters as part of Sydney design week, we designed and constructed a vertical garden to go on display in the powerhouse museum, so that was really cool.
So this year I was involved in two competitions, both of which I made the finals for, and an outcome of that was that I basically landed an internship at a place in Brisbane. So when I fly up to Brisbane, I will basically be interning with a place, its a furniture design studio, and my role will be to be acting like a sponge, soaking up as much information as I can from the people who know the industry the best. And I’ll be, you know, getting my hands dirty doing all kinds of things that are the norms of running a design studio, and learning about the business of design.
[Copyright 2015 University of Technology, Sydney] [Featuring work by Sam McDonnel and Nick Sadowsky] [Additional images courtesy of Anna Zhu]
