Transitioning from UX to Hardware Design: The Challenge of Commitment
Designer Anshuman Kumar discusses how transferable skills bridge the gap between digital and physical products.
1Career as Cumulative Iteration
Anshuman Kumar views his career moves between sports equipment, voice intelligence, and drone design as iterations rather than resets. By focusing on problem-framing and user needs, he maintains professional continuity across diverse domains. Each role adds specific constraints and methods, allowing designers to build a cumulative skill set rather than starting over.
2The Danger of Early Labeling
Kumar warns students against adopting narrow professional labels like UX or motion designer too early in their development. He suggests establishing strong foundational roots before specializing in branches. This approach prevents designers from creating artificial boundaries that limit their ability to explore different mediums and solve complex, multi-disciplinary design problems effectively.
3Nature as Design Vocabulary
The Bloom Lamp project demonstrates how Kumar translates natural observations, such as mushroom canopies, into physical forms. He emphasizes that intuition requires a deliberate framework to be successful. Designers must test relationships and proportions through 3D printing to ensure that an attractive visual reference actually functions as a convincing, well-made object.
4Strategic Use of Slowness
Drawing serves as a critical tool for Kumar to define direction before engaging with digital software. This slow process coordinates hand, eye, and thought to build confidence in an emerging idea. He cautions against indefinite sketching, noting that designers must recognize when paper has answered its questions and it is time to proceed.
5Integrating Digital and Physical Tools
Kumar utilizes a fluid workflow between sketching, CAD, and physical prototypes to resolve design uncertainties. Rendering is treated as an investigative tool rather than just a final presentation method. By moving back and forth between these mediums, he can resolve geometry and material textures while maintaining a clear intention for the final product.
6Adapting to Voice Interfaces
Transitioning to voice intelligence at Samsung forced Kumar to design without a visual screen. This shift required him to master systems thinking and handle ambiguous inputs. He eventually applied these skills to driver assistance projects, proving that experience in one field can inform complex, non-visual interactions in entirely different technological environments.
7Hardware Demands Greater Commitment
The primary challenge in moving from UX to hardware is the inability to fix mistakes via software updates. Hardware development cycles are expensive and time-consuming, making early design decisions carry significantly more weight. Designers must learn to accept these constraints and understand that some choices are difficult to reverse once production begins.
8Navigating Technical and System Realities
Designers must balance their original vision with technical capabilities and collaborator dependencies. Kumar argues that maintaining the overall experience is essential, even when working through complex manufacturing realities. Success lies in understanding what a medium allows, recognizing when to iterate, and knowing which decisions the final product will have to live with.