Ryan Kalgreen

A Better Bus Stop

For a class called Introduction to Industrial Design Methods, one of the projects was to develop a design for a bus stop on Northwestern’s campus. Design work took place over several weeks, and we were challenged to incorporate elements of existing campus architecture, university iconography, as well as features/amenities we would like to see.

This was our first project where perspective sketching was introduced, and we had to deliver several different views of our final design.

Takeaways

I was really proud of how far I progressed in this class, and was extremely satisfied with both the product and the process for this project in particular. Professor Holderfield’s positive, nurturing, and highly personalized critique helped me realize my ideas, and the classroom environment was relaxed but buzzing with creativity and support.

I have continued to use the skills I learned in this class in other industrial design work, but also in mechanical engineering and design work. It helped me better appreciate sketching as a communication tool, and sketching has become central to how I develop ideas, work in groups, and express myself.