Product design involves more than creating a useful object. Designers also need to consider how a product will be manufactured, funded, marketed, and delivered. A new episode of SURROUND Presents explores that broader role with Souvik Paul, founder of medical device startup Aurie, and Sinclair Smith of the School of Visual Arts’ MFA Products of Design program. The discussion is hosted by METROPOLIS Editor-in-Chief Avi Rajagopal.
Paul’s path into design began in finance on Wall Street. Two weeks before he was due to start graduate school at SVA, his future sister-in-law sustained a spinal cord injury in a car accident. The experience led him to focus his studies on products and services that could improve life for people with disabilities.
That work later informed Aurie, which is developing a reusable catheter system for people with spinal cord injuries, spina bifida, and multiple sclerosis. The catheter can be reused up to 100 times, while the compact system cleans, disinfects, and lubricates it between uses. The design also addresses the economics of ongoing catheter use, rather than focusing solely on the physical device.
Paul found that developing the product was only part of the task. After graduating, he worked as a design strategist at Johnson & Johnson and learned about the challenges of bringing medical technologies to market. He concluded that making Aurie a reality would require building a business around it as well as designing the system.
Smith says the SVA program is responding to this challenge by bringing entrepreneurship and business modeling further into its curriculum. Drawing on his experience running the school’s Ground Floor Incubator, he has helped students develop commercial plans for their thesis projects alongside the products themselves.
The conversation considers how design training can support work beyond prototyping, including collaboration, communication with investors, and navigating medical-device regulations. It also explores why understanding the systems around a product can be essential to bringing an idea to the people it is intended to help.
SURROUND Presents is presented by SVA. The episode features Rajagopal’s conversation with Paul and Smith.
Sources: Design Milk.