“Fix the current imbalance”: a Russian specialist on the prospects for the development of domestic industrial design

— What is industrial design and how much is it in demand today in Russia and in the world?

What are the main trends in this area that you can highlight?

- Industrial design is the process of designing, creating an aesthetic appearance of a mass-produced product.

Industrial design is in high demand all over the world. 

Typically, industrial design is presented in the B2C (commercial relationship between an organization and individuals. -

) segment.

However, in Russia this area has always been part of B2G (relations between business and the state. -

).

It is important for an ordinary consumer how this or that household item or electronic equipment looks like.

The state, on the other hand, needs equipment to be cheaper and work longer, so industrial design in our country was not in demand by such a customer.

Owners of private manufacturing companies who invest in industrial product design receive more profit than those who do not pay attention to this factor.

• Gettyimages.ru

• © Guido Mieth

Private manufacturing companies in Russia may be able to compete with foreign ones, but state-owned companies are not yet, due to their unwillingness to invest in product development and its global competitiveness.

Today, the main global trends in industrial design are projects created from high quality environmentally friendly materials and with laconic forms.

— In what branches of Russian industry is such a design used?

How is this area of ​​activity developing, taking into account the previously imposed sanctions?

- Russian industrial design is in demand in shipbuilding, automotive, medical and household appliances, etc. The GAZ company has seriously invested in the design of its products, from Urals to Gazelles.

For example, designers develop unified windshields and door shapes for different cars.

Quite closely, industrial designers cooperate with railway transport manufacturing companies.

For example, Transmashholding pays attention to changing the design of its rolling stock line. 

• Passenger electric train of direct current EG2TV "Ivolga"

• © tmholding.ru

In my opinion, due to the imposed sanctions, the situation for domestic industrial designers has changed for the better.

Now there will be less foreign products on the Russian market.

I hope that our own production of goods for people will develop, which in the future will replace foreign analogues.

For such products, high-quality domestic design will also be needed.

After all, a person is accustomed to a good product.

But it takes time to correct the existing imbalance in the design of domestic and foreign products.

— Today, many foreign automobile companies have either left the Russian market or transferred their assets to Russian representatives.

How did domestic specialists in the field of industrial car design react to the departure of foreign companies?

How, in your opinion, will the process of import substitution in the field of auto design go?

- All designers reacted differently to the departure of automotive industrial giants.

Many are now working abroad, so this is not a problem for them.

Those who work in Russia will try to work with Russian manufacturers or move to other companies.

As for import substitution, this is a long process.

Unfortunately, even the sensational Moskvich, most likely, will be produced from a Chinese car kit for the time being.

It is quite difficult to create your own model, for this you need to develop your own engineering, technologies and a developed system of quality suppliers.

And this is time and a powerful investment.

The state will need to closely deal with this issue and actively finance domestic projects if Russia wants to become competitive in the passenger car industry.

In commercial and freight transport, we have more or less order, thanks to the GAZ and KAMAZ companies.

— And what about the situation with foreign car designers in the Russian market?

— Foreign designers left.

Until recently, the head of design for Lada was the Englishman Steve Mattin.

Under his leadership, the Russian team created a completely new design for the next generation Lada Vesta, X-Ray and Niva line.

• Lada Vesta SW in the showroom of the auto center

• RIA News

• © Alexey Sukhorukov

So far, we cannot replace foreign specialists.

In addition, a lot of Russian designers left to work abroad in large companies.

This trend, oddly enough, continues.

People leave for Japan, Germany, Italy, France, America, China, etc. In Russia, such specialists are not yet in demand.

I think that both foreign specialists and highly competitive Russian ones will return when funding for domestic projects is resumed.

— What are the most famous Russian industrial designers you could name?

- Sergey Smirnov, who has the same name studio "Smirnov Design".

He is engaged in industrial design of medical and sports equipment, electronics and robots.

Interesting industrial design studio SKB MAMI led by Sergey Alyshev.

It is worth noting Artemy Lebedev, whose studio develops projects in various areas of design.

The head of the industrial direction there is Timur Burbaev.

Our design and innovation center "Kinetics" based at NUST "MISiS" is engaged in the creation of new industrial facilities of high complexity in various industries.

Mostly it is transport.

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• © Monty Rakusen

— Russian designers widely used foreign technologies and materials.

Can we replace them with our own or will we buy from friendly countries?

— This industry is deeply integrated into the global architecture of the economy.

We must compete with the best.

The prototype needs to be presented well.

The future of the whole project depends on it.

Therefore, designers need the best materials, most of which came from Western countries.

Now the supply of these materials is limited, but I hope that representatives of friendly countries will help us.

I am sure that domestic producers of materials will actively develop, but this will take time and powerful resources.

However, all Russian designers use Western software on their computers.

It has practically no analogues, including among friendly countries, so something will need to be invented.

I think we can solve this problem.

How long does it take to

- To develop a new car platform, it takes several years and about $ 2 billion. In the West, it used to take from 6 to 8 years.

Now the process has been reduced to 1.5-2 years due to the development of new technologies.

In Russia, a little longer, but not radically.

I can note that now Russian cars can compete in appearance and quality with foreign counterparts.

For example, if you see Lada Vesta in the stream, then it will practically not differ in any way from Hyundai or KIA cars.

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• © Viaframe

— Are there many industrial design specialists in Russia?

Where are they trained and where are they employed?

What basic knowledge and skills should such specialists have?

— An industrial designer is a mixture of an artist, an engineer, a designer, a production worker and a technologist.

He must have an unlimited store of knowledge and skills.

For example, a transportation designer must be able to design high-quality appliances, glass, furniture, ergonomics, colors, and materials in a car.

And that's not all.

This includes both marketing and foresights (a technology and communication format that allows participants to agree on the images of the future, as well as, having determined what they want, agree on actions in its context. -

) and focus groups of potential buyers.

Everything needs to be put together in a single puzzle of the desired product for decades to come.

There are about 80 faculties in Russia that train industrial designers.

From there, on average, 200-300 people a year graduate.

The main educational institutions where industrial design is taught qualitatively and competitively are: Moscow Art and Industry Academy named after S. G. Stroganov;

Moscow Automotive Institute MAMI;

Ural State University of Architecture and Art in Yekaterinburg;

St. Petersburg Academy of Art and Industry named after A. L. Stieglitz and several other worthy schools.

Many children study in foreign schools and universities.

Graduates of both of them can work both in the best Russian companies and in foreign ones.