Stage 7: Production Reading Response

The final chapter in the book and quite possibly the most important one is Production. First off let me just say that there was an image in the chapter of a man throwing a fish into a pile of other dead fish and my heart broke. I hate things like that.  Anyway... So, in this final chapter the author wants the the readers to understand that although the design itself it complete, that in the production stage, the work has really just begun. This is the stage where both you as the designer and the production team need to work together in every sense of the word. If the production team doesn't understand something about your design or an issue arises, you have to be available to assist in anyway possible. I assumed this would be the case, and i couldn't imagine myself just running off to go on a vacation like the author states might happen.

The book then goes into prototyping where it lists three different types; concept, throwaway, and evolutionary. Testing is crucial and the last stage during production that allows the designers and production team to see what works best with the design such as fabrics or materials. Its also a good way to test the functional aspects of the design and see how it fits into real world scenarios. I think this is a very crucial aspect to production because testing is important to find weak points in the design itself.

Other important areas of concern when in the production stage is for designers to understand their budget limitations as well as scheduling everything in a timely manner in regards to the design production. Even decisions on materials need to be made. I think reading about these aspects really made me understand how important every last bit of detail is since the production stage is the most important.

The very last bit of advice the author gives is at the end of the reading where he explains the entire process of design one last time. He talks about how designing a new project can be difficult and that it is part of a learning experience for yourself as a designer. I agree, I have no experience with professional designing yet but I am sure that the more i am working in the field, the more experience I will have and be able to use that experience to my advantage when working on similar projects.