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@TRA
Lae, you mentioned you were a recent graduate? Do they teach this idea that you can be a specialist in aesthetics above all else and then let the engineers figure it out? Genuine intrest.
If so, sounds crazy. Functional and beautiful can co-exist and do so often. And any designer should understand enough about function to be able to design within that. And visa versa, I don't believe engineers are immune to having an aesthetic viewpoint. That is the better challenge. Here's your box, don't go outside it - way more fun that "woah, do whatever man, just make it pretty"
That bike posted earlier is a failure - in every sense. There's nothing pretty about the proportions, the minimalist approach is too easy. There's no functional benefit. Revolutionary thinking about the design of bicycles, er, nope. No boundaries pushed, no new ideas. It's just shit and wherever or whoever designed shouldn't be awarded at all. It is a symptom of modern thinking.
I haven't been to a design school of any kind for a long time, so I'm spouting my own uneducated opinion. It does really concern me that they would teach you to have "no time to fuck about making functional objects".
There's already enough wastage on the planet without having specific "aesthetisticians".
I should add that I'm an art director/designer in advertising. Mostly because I slacked off and didn't get high enough maths and physics scores to be an engineer or industrial designer :(