The thesis of our freshly graduated industrial design MSc student, Boglárka Duray, was published on the Hungarian-language architecture and design portal ’Octogon’. Her design was about a product family of office lamps, called Glide. She is not only an outstanding designer but also tried herself in various fields of engineering.
Interview with Boglárka Duray.
What has inspired the design of the product family?
Boglárka Duray: My aim was to develop an innovative office lamp product family. My first step was to recall how a day of mine looked like in the office where I spent my internship period. I tried to find solutions for easing office work. For instance, it happened several times, that I forgot to charge my phone at home, or I needed a charger during the day. I realized that it would be useful to put a charger inside the lamp. Of course, I was eager to check its usefulness first, so I set up a survey about the possible functions of the lamp, which was sent to the mail list of the company hosting my thesis design, and relevant Facebook groups. Half of them replied positively and agreed on needing a charger built in the lamp.
The uniqueness of the lamp is its flat lampshade, with which users could modify the direction of the light. The lampshade in bent position looks like a paraglide, that is, where the name ’glide’ comes from.
What has been your most exciting design project you worked on during your years at BME? (Industrial and Product Design study programme is only available in Hungarian language – Ed.)
Regarding the design process, my most exciting experience was to design a wooden game for children, co-working with my fellow teammates, Enikő Molnár and András Wild. During game planning, it was essential to focus on its practical features, as it should be suitable for different age groups, and multiple types of games. It was interesting to observe three siblings, who I tested the game with. While I was playing with the older ones, their younger sibling started to use the game elements as building blocks. Usually, children grow up making only a few decisions. This game prepares children for making decisions – as there are several options to choose from while playing the game.
We gave the name Madwe to the group, which is not only containing the initial letters of the names of the members, but also containing the Hungarian word for bear: ’medve’.
You have already participated in various project during your studies. Do you already have your own style?
During the planning phase, I pay attention to the future location and user experience. Empathy is outstandingly essential for me, also present in my works. I like creating intelligent solutions for a problem, make it as simple and usable as possible, and good-looking. Nevertheless, I feel that I’m still looking for my path. Yet, it was essential to work on several design projects during my years at BME, forming my own style.
You reached the final round with your team on the mobile app designer contest ’Bank to the Future’, organised by the Hungarian National Bank. What was your concept for this application?
With Kincső Dohi and Lilla Rácz-Szabó, we formed a group for the competition organised by the National Bank. The application was about making the soon opening Money Museum’s exhibition to be more interactive for children.
Our vision was to create an adventure in the digital space, connected with physical exhibition elements.
For many of us, the expression ’Money Museum’ recalls a picture of a static museum space full of coins behind glasses. Instead, we offer an exciting journey, where children can learn about the world of money and finances through an adventure. They can easily solve the playful, diverse exercises with the help of an application, inspiring them to learn and think together. The younger ones have to save the heritage of an uncle while ’travelling back in time’ and can solve the case with people from the past helping them.
At the same time, teenagers get to know the topics of personal finances, creating a bank account, pocket money and student labour.
At the beginning of the game, each child can choose an avatar. Then, the adventure begins, in which the children can gather knowledge and skills in various topics, and they have a chance of deepening their new knowledge by answering the questions. At the end, children can even leave notes on a digital message board about their adventure at the museum, which they can look back on and share with their friends and family upon the next visit.
Beside your university studies, you volunteered to the organisation of BEST (Board of European Students of Technology), and you were even chosen to be the president of the local group in Budapest. Can you tell us about this experience?
We are working on ‘developing students’ with creating opportunities for them, as they can participate in specific professional challenges and develop their soft skills. I was part of the organizing team of the local round of EBEC (European BEST Engineering Competition), where applicants could compete in ’case study’ and ’team design’ categories. On each competition, a jury made of representatives of the business and the academic field are evaluating the results, and the best teams can get to the next round.
Last year in the second round, the task was to create a pinball table made of cardboard. To the presentation and to be a member of the jury, we invited Balázs Vince Nagy, the vice-rector of the university, and researcher of our MOGI Department.
During my years spent at different student organisations, I expanded my international network and took part in professional courses and conferences outside of Hungary. Also, I took the position of the president of the organisation for one year. During that time, I gained leadership skills, learned how to motivate the team members, and understood how important the clear and honest communication is in any team or project.
Now that you have finished your studies, do you have any ideas, where you would like to be in ten years?
Wow, ten years? (smiling) As I mentioned before, the research phase is really important for me, as it consists of understanding the users, their needs, and to be able to base the whole design process on the research. So, in the long run, I would like to work as a product designer, in a place where research is just as important as it is for me and where I can use my creativity and engineering skills as well.
You spent one semester in Germany with Erasmus+ scholarship. How did this period benefit you?
I have already spent longer time in Germany before, twice. First, we had lived there with my family for five years, because my father worked there. During this period, I learned German, which I still use almost daily. This made it possible for me to move to Germany for one semester with Erasmus+. At the Technical University of Dresden, I attended lectures in German, together with local product design engineer students. I developed my skills in sketching, rendering by hand and in different computer programs and I also took part in a project about designing a user interface.
It seemed like a bright solution to me, that in Dresden, the product design engineering students had a separate studio, where they could work on their projects, whenever they wanted to. Each student had a large drawing board full of their ideas and to-do lists, they had a small photo studio in the room and even a football table that guaranteed a good atmosphere. As a product designer, I was highly inspired by this solution, as in my field brainstorming together and giving feedback to each other really helps to reach our full potential in a design project.
’As a product design engineering student I can both grow in STEM and arts.’
You spent both your bachelor and master studies at BME. What would you highlight from these years?
In my opinion, the variety of subjects is the main advantage of the product and industrial designer study programme. We did not only have product design classes, but also mechanical engineering studies, marketing. We were introduced to the world of photography, graphic design materials and document editors as well. One of my favorite subjects was visual communication, where during each lesson, we had to present one of our visual materials to the group, then got detailed feedback and opinions from our classmates. Another favourite course of mine was startup management, where we worked on a business concept from an innovative idea, in teamwork. To make our project feel more realistic, our professors organized the Danube Cup Startup competition for us, where the best groups of Central Europe competed with their Startup ideas against each other.
At the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, I would highlight the various student groups like KTK Photo Team, Graphic Design Team, Kármán Studio, Green Team, etc. The factulty helped me a lot, that I could live in the dormitory: being close to the university, it made it possible for me to join TK Photo Team or DEMOLA; an inter-university open innovation lab. Some of the highlights of the dorm life were, for instance, the long nights that we spent together with my classmates in the common room finishing our projects while motivating each other throughout the whole night.
What would you suggest for the newcomers to the industrial designer programme of BME?
Firstly, I would recommend them to get to know the university life and the new environment, as it is very different from high school. Students experience higher level of freedom with seemingly distant deadlines, but it is useful to start working on the projects some time ahead. But at the same time, networking, socialising with fellow students is essential as well, and I can absolutely recommend them to join some student groups in later semesters.
I heard about this programme from a product design engineering student at a Christmas concert. She told me about one of her current projects at that time, the design of a wooden game for children. This opportunity came right in time as I was just wondering before how and where I could use my arts and STEM interest together. Being a part of this project, I was able to use both of them freely.
László Benesóczky
Photos: Octogon
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