November 04, 2020 Gabriel Ruegg Meet the artists of the 2020 MCAD Faculty Biennial This lounge chair prototype is an exploration of the relationship between what looks comfortable and what feels comfortable. The thing that sparked my interest in Product Design was frustration with existing products. Do vacuums and coffee grinders have to sound so unpleasant? Does that school bus really need to make my lungs hurt when it passes me as I ride my bike? Does that minivan have to look so, um, practical? Can't we do better? Sure, in the big picture, these are petty annoyances, but doesn't that mean they should be easy to fix? I just want the tools I use to do what they are supposed to without a lot of fuss, and the objects and environments I interact with to make intuitive sense, and maybe even put a little smile on my face. Because why not? From a designer's perspective, it's not that hard. It just takes a little bit of empathy and a little bit of attention to the way a place or thing makes us feel. After nearly a decade designing mass-market, consumer hard goods, I'm well-aware of the logistical, financial and even political and social constraints that can result in products that are "good-enough." With the practical understanding that value will almost always be a primary factor in most purchasing decisions, my interest is in designing great-looking, user-centered products that also address concerns about social and ecological sustainability, ethical economic behavior, and a broad view of what it means to be a stakeholder. About Gabriel Reugg Gabriel Ruegg is an industrial designer who has worked in a number of industries, including pet products; toys; food-service hardware; and, most recently, mass-market, consumer kitchen products. His practice includes nuts-and-bolts product design, sustainability, strategy, design research, patent/IP research, branding, marketing, and UI/UX. His clients include retailers such as Williams Sonoma and Kohl's and brands like KitchenAid and Martha Stewart. Before joining the faculty at MCAD, Ruegg taught in the industrial design programs at Pratt Institute and the New Jersey Institute of Technology. Explore more about Gabriel Ruegg