Michael Roller

Five Questions for Colin Roberts

Colin Roberts is a Designer 1 at Fiskars Brands with a Bachelors in Industrial Design from the University of Cincinnati. He enjoys sneakers, reading on his back porch and drinking in daylight.

How do you define good design?

Good design is creating objects appropriate to their context that resonate with someone to the point of making life more enjoyable. Good design isn’t about a physical ethos or style.

What is your favorite part of the design process?

I don’t think I have a favorite part. It’s the process itself that I love, from exploration, to visualization and final development. When I’m getting too much of one and not enough of others I can get cranky.

What challenges you most as a designer?

I think our world is rich with ideas and lacking in executional ability. With all the good ideas floating around it can be challenging for a young designer to avoid being used simply for execution. Maybe even more so within a larger corporation.

How do you define success?

There are so many variables to successful products, even award winners can be failures in the market place. I think I’ll define success when I can look across my company’s product line and see a spread that’s given us the opportunity for success in the market place.

What has been the most unexpected part of being a professional?

I’ve been surprised by the lack of formality in the design process. It seems that with so much time in school, in books I’ve read, and on designer blogs devoted to exploring and perfecting processes, more emphasis would be given towards implementing those processes.

Thanks, Colin!

Tags: definitions, five questions, interviews

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