

Industrial Design vs. Mechanical Engineering - fictivmade
https://www.fictiv.com/resources/spotlight/hardware-lessons-from-endless

======
stellographer
I don't really understand this article.

The only example of industrial design and mechanical engineering being fused
given in the article is the heat vent one where you took the vents off the top
of the sweat-lodge shaped computer and put them on the bottom because it
looked "like a large salt shaker"...

But doesn't heat rise? And now the vents are in the thermodynamically opposite
place they should be, and simultaneously sheltered from crosswind by the
gumdrop shape? That doesn't sound like much of a field-mesh rather than an
intentional crippling of the engineering portion...

------
Cloudy
They come off a bit biased towards the design fetish, and how the engineer had
to deal with the knowingly uncompromising dream designer.

    
    
      Scott’s mission was to reinvent the look, feel, and even
       personality of a computer, without limits. He worked to 
      capture an idea and a feeling without worrying initially 
      about the execution of that idea.
    
    
    
      The Engineering Challenge: Realize the Design
    
      For George, he sees his role as one to challenge 
      assumptions and do his utmost to realize Scott’s design.
    
    
      “My role as the Engineer is to take what the Industrial 
      Designer says is the Bible and try and put that into 
      production, more than coming back with “we have to change 
      this and that,” George says. “Because wherever possible, 
      we don’t want to compromise on our vision. We’ve made 
      every step necessary to manifest the industrial design 
      and try to reflect the creativity and personality of the 
      product.”
    
    

Design is great, but this just reminds me of design by Homer [1]

[1] [http://www.wired.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/the-homer-
in...](http://www.wired.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/the-homer-inline2.jpg)

------
pnathan
Why aren't these manufacturing shops in the US? I consistently hear of
difficulty working with offshore manufacturing plants like this - skimping
here and there, poor quality build, etc.

~~~
apalmer
Cost,at least perceived cost. But most likely the baseline quality to cost
trade off doesn't justify it.

~~~
Scramblejams
I often hear people complaining about how expensive US-based engineering
services are. I always think, just wait till you find out how expensive it can
be to outsource!

