News

What encouraged you to become a designer?

I’ve always been a practical person and from an early age enjoyed tinkering with gadgets and cars; at one time I thought I might follow my Dad into car mechanics. However as I grew up what interested me was the thought process behind how things are designed; becoming fascinated by all types of products and the technologies that drive them.

Tell us about one of your earliest designs.

One my earliest design is one that I’m most proud of, a modern grandfather clock which won second prize in the creativity category at the Cardiff Innovation Awards in 2010, during my final year at high school. It was ambitious for a school project – a longcase clock standing just less than 2 metres tall which my teachers suggested I revise to make a smaller finished product.

However, undeterred I stuck to my original idea and made the clock at full scale out of sections of cut MDF. My family’s downstairs bathroom became a makeshift workshop while the clock was being made and gave me space to hand solder 60 LED lights around the clock face. By far the best feature was the string of LEDs which acted as a pendulum, complete with a slight delay to mimic a real pendulum’s momentum.

What do you enjoy most about being a product designer with GX Design Engineers?

At GX Design Engineers we design products for so many different sectors. This is my first job since achieving a Masters in Product Design from Leeds University. It’s a challenging job full of variety; since taking up the position as design engineer I have been lucky to develop several consumer including a toy for children and am currently working on an environmentally friendly automotive project.

What key skills do you use most frequently in your job as a product designer?

Being a product designer is a combination of several skills; for me listening and problem solving are two of the skills I draw upon most regularly. Clients turn to us to interpret their ideas and turn them into commercially viable products. However, their ideas rarely come ‘fully formed’ and we need to extract as much information as we can to produce the end result that the client has in mind. During the initial client meeting I will often sketch an idea with the client present and even at this initial point will be thinking about how we can realistically achieve the end result through use of materials and even starting to consider how we can make the initial mock up through CAD modeling.

Who else do you work with at GX Design Engineers?

Although different members of the design team are often working on different product design projects, we are all located in one open plan office so we frequently share ideas and collaborate with each other. Each member of the design team has their own particular strengths; what Gary doesn't know about plastics isn't worth knowing, whilst Jeremy has such knowledge of electronics and as a former lecturer in CAD Mark is on hand to offer advice and help when needed.

When not designing a new product what do you do?

It’s fair to say that I live and breathe design, even when not working on a developing a new product for one of GX Group’s clients, my life revolves around design. I’ve recently bought a Plumen lightbulb and have been looking into designing a shade that complements the bulb's unique shape. Ideas often spring up at strange times - anything can inspire or influence me at any moment, be it the refraction of glass or the texture of certain materials.