DEANO DESIGNS
GREGOR AIKMAN
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Product Designer, Company Builder
Gregor's talk honed in on his journey from starting his product design consultancy start-up to now running a business that gives start-ups the tools to succeed. He wanted to emphasise the vast skillset that PDE graduates have, which allows them to succeed in roles like this.
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From Product Design to Company Builder
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Before I get into the kind of skills that Gregor was talking about I just want to look into his journey a bit. Just after graduating, he started his design consultancy called Meso:
Now, for me, I don't think I could do this. No safety net. No job security. I don't think I would have been able to deal with that, but when Gregor was asked about this he said that it just came naturally. He had so much confidence and belief in his skills that starting his own business was a no brainer.
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Meso was a success but Gregor really thanked it for opening the door to Filament:
I had heard of Filament before this talk but to be honest I had no idea what they did. After Gregor explained it I started to see his vision with the company.
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Filament is another design consultancy that Gregor decided to start but it had some key differences to Meso. Firstly, they wanted to start the design process, with companies, earlier. This meant that instead of the companies giving Filament a brief that they wanted something designed for, Filament helped them with the development of the brief. I think this is a really interesting approach and the idea aligns well with the skills that product designers develop. We often understand what consumers needs are better than the companies selling the product. I believe this is due to this idea of being on the outside looking into a project, we can give new, interesting ideas to the company.
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He then talked about how Filament wanted to develop ideas at speed. This is another thing that companies will want to see and having a track record of this will give reassurance to the companies we are designing for.
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The last thing that Gregor talked about was Filament's design philosophy. Now, I take these company design philosophies with a pinch of salt as they are often just a marketing gimmick. Filament's is "design that's good for people, business and the planet". Now if we just take that at face value it all seems a bit basic, but I am interested in the design for "business" aspect. As designers, I think we often just design for a user's needs, wants, and beliefs. We are also becoming more aware of our environmental impact, but what about "business"? I think this is often forgotten about. The most basic metric of a product's success is sales and these are driven by understanding the way the business operates. If they can't sell the product then what is the point in making it? This must be crucial for Filament, as a design consultancy that deals with lots of different businesses from different sectors. They must understand the business they are working with to ensure that their ideologies align with Filaments. If they don't then chances are the product will be a failure.
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So how did these companies lead to Gregor becoming the founder of STAC and why do the skills of product design engineers align with this?
Gregor said that when he was thinking about when he started his first couple of businesses he realised that he had no safety net (one of the reasons why I don't think I could start my business). Therefore, he decided to start STAC which he believed could give start-ups the tools and support needed to succeed.
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I believe that without PDE Gregor couldn't have done this. Communication, creativity and understanding of business all allow for product design engineers to be successful in a variety of roles. Gregor must use these every day to allow for STAC to be as successful as possible.
I am going to be starting an internship with Network Rail over the summer as a Risk Assessment and Project Management intern. I believe that I will succeed in this role because of the skills I have learnt and developed doing PDE. Could my career go down the project management path? I have no idea, but it's an avenue I could consider.
See, we don't just draw pretty pictures!