Iván de León, Industrial Designer
WHY ARE YOU AN INDUSTRIAL DESIGNER?
Ever since I can remember, I’ve had a fascination for objects. I attended some auto shows as a kid and I remember being blown away by the different shapes, silhouettes, textures, and materials applied to what is essentially a “metal box with wheels”. That's when I probably realized that there may be some people putting some thought into these features that make a product to be loved.
During high school I was really dubious about choosing a career that was a good fit for me. It spanned from illustration, graphic design, and architecture to mechanical engineering, music production, and psychology. I accidentally ran into industrial design as a discipline when looking through the sketches of Scott Robertson in a design blog. It resonated with me almost immediately.
Unfortunately, back then there were no Industrial Design programs in the part of the country where I lived, so I chose an engineering major with some emphasis in manufacturing and product development. Years later this helped to make a career transition towards industrial design and gave me a good foundation of how things are made.
WHAT WAS YOUR FAVORITE PART OF YOUR JOB AT SOULO?
Working in an open and collaborative environment and having the opportunity to iterate and explore different functional and aesthetic features of a product that’s going to be in the hands of users.
SHOW US A PICTURE OF YOUR DESK AND EXPLAIN WHY IT LOOKS THE WAY IT LOOKS.
I’m not a fan of saturating my workspace but I also like having everything I require at hand so I can be more focused on my current task.
I have built a custom LED bar under my computer to sketch an idea when necessary, this saves space and helps me to quickly change between an analog or digital medium without having to move to another desk.
I constantly take notes of observations, findings, and things to do, so most of the time my desktop is full of sticky notes. I have also turned an unused tv screen into a board for secondary notes, lists of ideas, and places where I find inspiration.
WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE PERSONAL CARE PRODUCT THAT YOU CAN’T LIVE WITHOUT?
Not exactly a gadget but I like my Shure Sound Isolating Earphones, I’ve had them for almost 4 years and the sound quality is still amazing. Music and podcasts play an important role in my life, also I also think the translucent material makes it an interesting object.
TELL US ABOUT A TIME THAT YOU OVERCAME A DIFFICULT DESIGN CHALLENGE.
One of the first projects I worked on was a fertility sensor for women. It helped me realize how easy you can make wrong assumptions about a user that is different from you and why diverse teams are crucial for creating empathetic design.
The project was also limited in budget, so I had to balance minimizing the number of parts and features while protecting the original intent.
WHO IS AN OLDER ADULT IN YOUR LIFE WHO HAS BEEN AN INSPIRATION TO YOU?
I’m still very close to my grandfather, he taught me the importance of having an open mind and hard work.
I asked him a lot of questions as a kid and he had an answer for everything. I wanted to know as much as him and that’s probably what made me a curious person up to this day.
