Six Eyes of A Designer

Six eyes of a
designer
Presentation at
The second Machine Tool Industry
Summit
At Goa on 4th May, 2007
by
P.J.Mohanram,
Director (Technology Division), IMTMA
2007-05-04 IMTMA Goa Summit 1
Six eyes of a designer
 Foresight : What many don’t have
despite having two eyes in the front
of the head !
 Hindsight : What all of us have
despite having no eyes in the back of
the head !
 Short sight : What we are blessed
with at the start: focus on the next
promotion, next raise !
 Long sight : What we get when our
career is about IMTMA
2007-05-04
to Goa
end
Summit
! 2
So what is this presentation
about?
It is not about eyes, vision and glasses
And yet, it is about
Insight
Into a designer’s growth and
development;
about the stages in his career, and
What eyes she (which includes he!)
needs to systematically
2007-05-04 IMTMA Goa Summit acquire to be 3
So what’s the first eye of a

designer?
2007-05-04
Inquire
IMTMA Goa Summit 4
Inquisitiveness is to a designer What a
tail is to a monkey; What curiosity is
to a child
Do not look; do not see;
Observe
An aspiring designer should
constantly ask:
2007-05-04 Why? How?
IMTMA Goa Summit 5
Do you know whats inside a Rubik’s
Cube?

How does a zipper actually work?

Howstuffworks The Loop, Chain and Lock Stitch Mechanisms.mht

How does a ballpoint pen work?
Aha ! That’s an easy one !

But do you know they don’t work
horizontal or upside down? In effect, it
depends on gravity!
So how do they write in weightless
environment?

Inquisitiveness is the single
attribute
that determines whether a
designer
succeeds in his chosen
profession.
To repeat, the first eye:
2007-05-04
Inquire
IMTMA Goa Summit 11
The second eye of a designer
Imitate
Imitation is more than
flattery!
It is the starting point in a designer’s
career
In this stage she will most usually be
asked to:
 Reproduce an existing design
 Design something closely similar to a
working design
 Scale up/ down an existing design
The third eye of a designer
Improve
When one is successful at imitation,
she will embark on the next step :
improvement
In this the designer will:
 Improve performance, remove deficiencies
 Redesign to eliminate problem areas
 Improve user interface
 Make products more reliable, abuse resistant
 Improve overall “fitness for use”
The success or failure of a product and its

designer is often
2007-05-04
determined at this 15
IMTMA Goa Summit
So if you are good at improving a
design, you must now open the
fourth eye of a designer:
Innovate
Innovation is the ability to
develop a smart,
novel application of existing
technology or
knowledge to achieve new
functional
capabilities
Essentially, innovation builds on

existing
Hand wound Self winding

watch
2007-05-04
watch
IMTMA Goa Summit 18
Extreme Innovation in
watch craft
Watches with
2007-05-04
complications
IMTMA Goa Summit 19
Extreme
innovatio
n:
The potato
clock
Two pairs of copper-zinc electrodes are inserted in each potato, offering a
rather novel example of the Volta battery. It works as long as the potatoes
remain moist. When they dry out, they can be replaced by another pair. The
potatoes do not pollute the environment and can even be eaten!

Early design of Innovation:

bicycle chain &
freewheel
Extreme innovation: bicycle

2007-05-04 powered flight
IMTMA Goa Summit 21
So why should a machine tool designer
know about extreme innovation in bicycle
and aerospace technology?

The designer should now be
ready to open the fifth eye
Invent
Invention goes beyond innovation
It is the creation of a
fundamentally
new object,
something that did not
exist before:
steam engine
2007-05-04
telephone
IMTMA Goa Summit 24
An invention often changes the course
of history,
makes the impossible possible, and,
most important, it
is the forerunner to further innovation
Innovation rides on
invention and
sometimes there is a thin
dividing line between
Some examples of inventions and
innovations:
Planetary gear train Automatic

transmission

Some more examples of inventions and
innovations:
 Leadscrew
Ballscrew
 Belt drive V-Belt,
toothed belt etc
 Electric motor Linear
motor
 Pneumatic tyre Tubeless
tyres
How the harmonic drive invention led to an
innovative
infeed drive for grinding machines
(Cincinnati EC series,
the first with electronic infeed introduced in
1972)

The automatic tool changer – invention of
great importance in machine tools
Modern innovations:
cam actuated, servo driven, multi-speed,
super fast
The hexapod invention and the innovative
spindle head:
Hexapod
2007-05-04
machine (invention)
IMTMA Goa Summit
Spindle 30
Question:
Are these eyes (innovate and
invent) god given ?
Or can a designer become
innovative and
inventive by training?
Answer:
Yes, it is possible for a designer to
acquire creative skills by following
1. Learning:
 Unlearn everything you know: NO
hang-ups!
 Adopt a holistic approach: Broaden
the horizon
 Think issues, not problems:
“Problems” limit scope
 Forget the customer ! All the world’s
inventions have come without any
customer asking!
 Forget patents: Only fundamental
2. Tools:
 Brainstorming
 Morphological analysis
 Synthesise – there are no more “pure”
technologies
 Imitating nature (ah, the second eye
again!)
 Contrathink
 Challenge yourself: Practice, practice,
practice
Using these learning and tools, it

Mark of a good design,
innovation or invention:
 Simple is elegant, elegant is

simple
 Weniger teile (term coined by

Dr.Inaba)
Invention and innovation in
India:
Blade grinder The great Indian Innovation:

(Western invention: Wet Tilting wet
design) grinder grinder
The most recent example of extreme
innovation or an
invention:
The SEGWAY Personal

2007-05-04 Transport
IMTMA Goa Summit 36
If our designer has travelled this
far on his
journey, it is now time to open the
sixth eye:
2007-05-04
Inspire
IMTMA Goa Summit 37
The highest role a

designer can play is
to inspire other
designers to open
2007-05-04
their six eyes
IMTMA Goa Summit 38
Who better than Leonardo da Vinci
can inspire?
And then he was a

2007-05-04
painter…
IMTMA Goa Summit 39
So we have an alternative growth path for a
designer’s career
Inspirer (Designer Capability
Maturity
Invent Model)
or Where
er
Innovat are
Climb
uir
or you ?
Improve
Inq the
rImitator
ladder!

Thank
you
Reference texts on design:
 Invention by Design: How Engineers Get from Thought to Thing (Hardcover)
by Henry Petroski
 The Evolution of Useful Things: How Everyday Artifacts-From Forks and Pins to Paper Clips and Zippers-Came to
by Henry Petroski
 To Engineer Is Human: The Role of Failure in Successful Design (Vintage) by Henry Petroski
 Design Paradigms: Case Histories of Error and Judgment in Engineering by Henry Petroski
 Remaking the World: Adventures in Engineering (Vintage) by Henry Petroski
 Pushing the Limits: New Adventures in Engineering by Henry Petroski
 Innovative Conceptual Design: Theory and Application of Parameter Analysis (Hardcover)
by Ehud Kroll, Sridhar S. Condoor, David G. Jansson
 Introduction to Engineering Design & Problem Solving (B.E.S.T. Series) (Paperback)
by M. David Burghardt
 Serendipity: Accidental Discoveries in Science (Paperback)
by Royston M. Roberts
 Engineering Design Methods: Strategies for Product Design (Paperback)
by Nigel Cross
 Engineering Design: A Day in the Life of Four Engineers (Prentice Hall Modular Series for
Engineering) (Paperback)
by Mark N. Horenstein

Reference texts on design (contd.):
 Engineering Design Synthesis: Understanding, Approaches and Tools

(Hardcover)
by Amaresh Chakrabarti (Editor)
 Designers: The Key to Successful Product Development (Hardcover)
by Eckart Frankenberger (Editor), Petra Badke-Schaub (Editor), Herbert Birkhofer
(Editor)
 Invention and Evolution: Design in Nature and Engineering (Hardcover)
by Michael French
 Engineering Design Principles (Paperback)
by Ken Hurst
 Managing Engineering Design (Hardcover)
by Crispin Hales
 Five Hundred and Seven Mechanical Movements: Embracing All Those
Which Are Most Important in Dynamics, Hydraulics, Hydrostatics,
Pseumatics, Steam en (Paperback)
by Henry T. Brown
 Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired by Nature (Paperback)
by Janine M. Benyus
 The Design of Everyday Things (Paperback)
by Donald A. Norman
 Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things (Paperback)
by William McDonough, Michael Braungart

Reference texts on creativity and innovation:
 Six Thinking Hats (Paperback)

by Edward de Bono
 Creativity in Product Innovation (Paperback)
by Jacob Goldenberg, David Mazursky
 Creativity: Understanding Innovation in Problem Solving, Science, Invention, and the
Arts (Hardcover)
by Robert W. Weisberg
 Scandinavian Style: Classic and Modern Scandinavian Design and Its Influence on the
World (Board book)
by Ingrid Sommar
 Bringing Technology and Innovation into the Boardroom: Strategy, Innovation and
Competences for Business Value (Hardcover)
by European Institute for Technology and Innovation

Acknowledgement:
 In preparing this presentation the author has drawn freely
on
material available from the internet and other published
sources;
 IMTMA acknowledges all intellectual property rights,
patents, design registrations and copyright etc. of the
respective owners/sources;
 IMTMA declares that the material has been used solely to
inform and educate member companies on the concepts of
design, innovation and invention
 This material is not reproduced for commercial distribution
or wide circulation.
Reservations
 No material contained in this presentation may be
reproduced or transmitted/published in any form without
the written permission of IMTMA.

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Six eyes of a

So what’s the first eye of a

2007-05-04 IMTMA Goa Summit 6

2007-05-04 IMTMA Goa Summit 7

Howstuffworks The Loop, Chain and Lock Stitch Mechanisms.mht

2007-05-04 IMTMA Goa Summit 8

2007-05-04 IMTMA Goa Summit 9

2007-05-04 IMTMA Goa Summit 10

The second eye of a designer

The third eye of a designer

 Redesign to eliminate problem areas

 Improve user interface

 Make products more reliable, abuse resistant

 Improve overall “fitness for use”

The success or failure of a product and its

Essentially, innovation builds on

Hand wound Self winding

2007-05-04 IMTMA Goa Summit 20

Early design of Innovation:

Extreme innovation: bicycle

2007-05-04 IMTMA Goa Summit 22

Planetary gear train Automatic

2007-05-04 IMTMA Goa Summit 26

2007-05-04 IMTMA Goa Summit 28

Using these learning and tools, it

 Simple is elegant, elegant is

 Weniger teile (term coined by

Blade grinder The great Indian Innovation:

The SEGWAY Personal

The highest role a

And then he was a

2007-05-04 IMTMA Goa Summit 40

2007-05-04 IMTMA Goa Summit 42

 Engineering Design Synthesis: Understanding, Approaches and Tools

2007-05-04 IMTMA Goa Summit 43

 Six Thinking Hats (Paperback)

2007-05-04 IMTMA Goa Summit 44

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