Aj Choudhury studied Product Design at Brunel University and was spotted by the CIDA judges at New Designers part 2 in July 2019. His work used colour as a universal language to communicate air quality for pedestrians in a neat portable and pretty cool digital device and app called ‘Aero’. Find out more about this exceptionally talented new designer and his approach to colour and the design process.
Product Design (BSc) at Brunel University. Tutor: Dr Eujin Pei
How important is colour in your work and how do you choose and narrow down colours? Colour has always been an important aspect for my design projects in the past. I usually select colours by experimenting with a wide range of options and narrowing down to a single colour range, depending on how well it portrays the mood I intended. For my air quality monitoring project; Aero, I knew that I wanted to utilise a colour changing element which would be used to quickly relay information to users. As such, I decided to maintain a completely neutral colour scheme for the rest of the device, ensuring attention is placed on the colour changing element itself.
Tell us about our creative process – where do you find inspiration? For the aesthetic design of many projects, I find inspiration from many different modern structures found in society which use geometric shapes or patterns. For example, Aero was inspired by the turbines found on aeroplanes and a previous project which involved designing a desk lamp was inspired by TV satellites.
What is the best bit of the creative process – journey or destination? I definitely prefer the journey of the creative process. By taking a long and detailed design process as part of a project, I have been able to explore a wide range of abstract ideas, talk to many different users and people who provide their unique perspectives, and generally learn a lot more about how to make a meaningful product.
Creative high point? The best part of the design process for me is always model making and prototyping stage. It is incredibly rewarding to be able to turn a sketch or CAD model into a tangible product or experience. The model for my Aero was my highest creative point as it involved designing and physically prototyping a highly detailed design.
Creative low point? The electronic development for Aero was very overwhelming and quite a low point, as I had never created any electronic prototypes before and had no knowledge of how to do it. However, learning independantly and taking a very iterative approach allowed me to overcome this hurdle and learn a lot during the process.
Where do you want to be in 3 years’ time? Ideally, I would like to be working as part of a team in an industrial design consultancy, working on a variety of unique projects and products that users will interact with on a regular basis. Specifically, I would like my role to be revolved around developing the form of new products as well as their colours, materials and finishes.
Is there one person during your studies/life who has really made a difference to you? – Maybe in terms of encouraging you when you were at a low point, pushing you in different directions unlocking your potential etc. My tutor, Dr Eujin Pei, has really made a difference throughout my time at university by constantly supporting my ideas and providing advice across many different projects as well as encouraging me to push my boundaries and dive deeper into the design process to find more meaningful solutions.
What is your favourite colour? White / Light Grey
Contact details
Email: ajcho.design@gmail.com
Instagram: @shoj.jpg
Website: www.ajchoudhury.myportfolio.com
Image credits: Aj Choudhury