Generative Product Design Futures

Abstract

Product Design has a digital future, but the changes in thinking and practice required of discipline leaders involve a paradigm shift, rather than an evolution. Rather than challenging existing cultures and conventional mass manufacturing expertise to create incremental change, it will be necessary to propose new digital product design themes that align with computer-based disciplines. This article highlights the development of generative product design over the last decade, enabled by advances in additive manufacturing (3D printing) moving it from a rapid prototyping technology into a viable production process for end-use manufacturing. Illustrated through generative product design practices developed by a UK computational product design studio, this article explains how generative design has the potential to enable more fluid product outcomes and interactions. The approaches discussed provide insight into the possibilities for future product design practices and changed disciplinary boundaries, predicated on digital discipline collaborations and innovative ways of working.