Industrial Design Program Yields Multi-Dimensional Students and Futures

Written by: Amy Stinchcombe
Published: Thursday, February 18, 2021
Brandon Kong Modeling Bumps and Bruises Kneepads

Elizabeth Spencer ’21 is an industrial design major, member of Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA) and the current events coordinator for the student run chapter. Spencer was also the first non-architecture student in the role of technical manager with AIAS architecture group who manages the 3D printing lab. As Spencer recounts, “I’ve always loved 3D printing – I have a mini 3D printer and wanted to learn more so I met the person who was the president of AIAS at the coffee shop Mike Chappa. They never had anyone who wasn’t in architecture be a manager, so I volunteered at first, and then ran for technical manager. I had to fix the printers, manage the logistics of having materials on hand for the printers and figure out the budget. I was also the only non-architecture student on the board of directors of AIAS from 2017-2019.” 

Spencer shared some perspectives on what industrial design is, “When I became an industrial design major I didn’t know what industrial design was. Industrial design is really art and science, wanting to improve the experience of people with their products, bridging the areas between how they are developed, the conception of it, to full on production. Industrial design encompasses all of that. It’s art in the sense no one wants an ugly product, art can be interpreted as the making, but it is not just a pretty sketch. Science because there is a lot of making a product isn’t always about making it look good. The science of it is in the engineering, math, physics of how all the pieces have to come together, understanding how a product will be used and how it will be made." View Spencer's portfolio and website here. 



 

 

She encourages incoming students to connect with the student run clubs. “We provide support with developing skills and connections within the student body, and try to reach out to the incoming freshman as much as possible. There is always room for improvement in studio culture. Sometimes in a room with studio mates I feel like there is a competitiveness, but our faculty work hard to have us build a strong community and work in teams. I remember Jose Alcala always saying “open up and get to know each other, that there is the possibility for multiple A’s in the group”, so that people have confidence in their own work and what they are doing.”

Spencer was also part of a team that jumped into a design hackathon and came up with a winning design. As she put it, “Hackathons are traditionally for programming, we had no idea that we were going to win – there were professionals who already had products who were looking for money.  We entered in a group of 3 friends with our professors as mentors, and had to come up with a design in 3 days. It was an event  designed to foster entrepreneurship with the Northern NJ area - sponsored by the Jersey City Rapid Response Maker Group.”