We, as the Designer Interviews ("DI") had the distinct pleasure and opportunity to interview award-winning, most creative and innovative Shreya Paliwal ("SP").
A designer striving to make an impact through med-tech product designs in India. Currently at Happy Reliable Surgeries, as a Design Consultant, her work includes making the products user-friendly, user interaction with the product effortless and providing design solutions optimized for manufacturing apart from making it aesthetically representative of the quality of the product. She along with her company is passionately working towards improving the overall surgical platform solutions in India.
Shreya Paliwal Designs
We are pleased to share with you original and innovative design work by Shreya Paliwal.
Shreya Paliwal Design - Easynav Infinity Surgical System
Designer Interview of Shreya Paliwal:
DI: Could you please tell us more about your art and design background? What made you become an artist/designer? Have you always wanted to be a designer?
SP : Although I am a graduate with a Bachelor's in design, major in Industrial Design, I have always loved to break the hard and fast distinction between design disciplines and explore all areas for enhancing my knowledge and skills. For my profession, I knew I had a knack for a creative career but from the town that I hail from, design is a profession that is seldom heard about or is usually related to Fashion Design. Very few actually knew what a “Designer” does, maybe many still don’t. So, I somewhere knew it had to do with a creative profession but never knew what a designer exactly does, up until my academics in design. Thankfully I had well-informed people around to advise me to take up design as a profession.
DI: Can you tell us more about your company / design studio?
SP : I work as a Design Consultant with Happy Reliable Surgeries Pvt. Ltd, a Bengaluru-based firm providing image-guided surgical navigation solutions to their customers.
DI: What is "design" for you?
SP : Design for me is a means to Proactive compassion, search for purpose, a way to explore multiple disciplines and learn new things.
DI: What kinds of works do you like designing most?
SP : I love working on projects that are technically complex, challenging, and require skills I aspire to get better at. Such projects are an expressway to gaining knowledge and becoming the next best version of yourself. Although initially the project journey might be filled with many failures and setbacks due to a lack of experience, in the end, growth is maximum.
DI: What is your most favorite design, could you please tell more about it?
SP : Since I have always been working around areas I found appealing, I have many favorites. Zo: The Psyche Fitness App is one of my favorites. Yet another is about Ancient Indian Iconography and its uses. Both of them are unique in the sense that their application would help resolve some prevalent issues or help guide one in the right direction for the resolution of issues.
DI: What was the first thing you designed for a company?
SP : During my academic journey, I was fortunate to have the opportunity of working on an Industry project during the ongoing semester. Brief for which had been to rectify manufacturing time taken for two patented components of a product and bring it at equilibrium to help hasten the assembly time. After studying their process in-depth and understanding the component parts, solutions by modifications in the component were designed to suit the brief. This had been my first Industry as well as a medical component project.
DI: What is your favorite material / platform / technology?
SP : Till now it always had been a Canvas but exposure to woodworking and AR/VR tools has made it encompass all; two-dimensional canvas paintings, three-dimensional woodworking, and multidimensional AR/VR.
DI: When do you feel the most creative?
SP : While listening to music, in the lap of nature or while travelling.
DI: Which aspects of a design do you focus more during designing?
SP : First and foremost a satisfactory validation of the envisioned solution to the given design problem that it will not create even bigger problems for users to fight with. Then comes aesthetics and manufacturability.
DI: What kind of emotions do you feel when you design?
SP : While designing the mind is completely focused on the task at hand, as if in a peaceful state of mind.
DI: What kind of emotions do you feel when your designs are realized?
SP : Overwhelming emotions flood the calm state of mind and excitement is at its peak when the designs are, after deliberate efforts, seen working flawlessly.
DI: What makes a design successful?
SP : The success of a design depends upon how closely it functions to the thought process and idea as visualized by the designer to resolve a problem. This means how closely the idea manifests itself, in reality, is a true mark of successful design provided that it is a positive upgrade to the existing solutions.
DI: When judging a design as good or bad, which aspects do you consider first?
SP : It is a deliberate design or an happy accident without due thought to the consequences that follow a product Lifecycle
DI: From your point of view, what are the responsibilities of a designer for society and environment?
SP : For society and the environment that we live in our responsibilities go beyond creating designs that only solve a problem. The designs should be farsighted, ensuring no huge harm is caused to the environment while solving a problem that is comparatively minor. Designs are to be optimized, eliminating wastage of resources, human efforts, and designs that help humans towards a safer future.
DI: How do you think the "design field" is evolving? What is the future of design?
SP : Design is no longer only about aesthetics and manufacturing although it has been encompassing the business perspective of the product since long, the true potential of a design field into enhancing the capabilities of a company from multifold angles like system design has recently been a talk of the town.
DI: When was your last exhibition and where was it? And when do you want to hold your next exhibition?
SP : Not held any exhibitions yet. Hopefully soon.
DI: Where does the design inspiration for your works come from? How do you feed your creativity? What are your sources of inspirations?
SP : The design inspiration comes from a focused and one-pointed mind on thought in a peaceful state. For feeding creativity most important is getting 8 hours of sleep and keeping the body in a healthy state. Exercising, listening to music and dancing personally helps me overcome mental blocks that form by doing the same thing over and over at times.
DI: How would you describe your design style? What made you explore more this style and what are the main characteristics of your style? What's your approach to design?
SP : My design style is highly affected by personal life experiences and learnings in design.
DI: Do you work as a team, or do you develop your designs yourself?
SP : Currently I have experienced Industry mentors that I consult for direction and validation of ideas but I generally develop the designs myself. Depending on the type of work I take the call. Most critical elements are handled by me and relevant elements are handled by team members with necessary skills
DI: Do you have any works-in-progress being designed that you would like to talk about?
SP : I am currently working on yet another Surgical Navigation platform which would have more complexity and even more severe time and cost constraints. Apart from that
DI: How can people contact you?
SP : People can contact me via Linkedin or via G-Mail at shreyapaliwal.designs@gmail.com