Why?

The basis of my decision to pursue design is the interest I had from an early age to create with the hands. As a child I was often given a box of wood scraps and nails and a hammer (by my mother eager to give me something to do) and given the afternoon to make something. It is this eagerness to create instinctively that drove me to take up this line of further education.

I have always attempted to create something either due to boredom or just the fun of creating something new.
Those small plastic models of cars that took hours to glue (and I could never paint properly) wooden sail boats, paintings, t-shirts, carts with parts cannabilised from local prams thrown out during council clean-ups, electronics kits; I even began half seriously considering building a submarine to use in the local river before realising this was, at best, a completely half-baked idea. But the intent was there, even if the technical know-how was not.
This technical know-how and indeed a sense of formality and professionalism to both counteract, clarify and focus my keenness to build something "cool" and "fun" was the basis of my choosing of this course, Industrial Design.

I wish to understand how I can use what passion I have for my own powerful instinct to fashion something to create a useful and practical object that has a real world impact. I also wish to be able to get some of the more zany ideas that reside in my head out into a position where they can be realised (through professional manufacturing and the enhancement of my own skills such as sketching, model building, and so on.)

I am aware of my limitations in an artistic sense, and as such feel that my interpretations of things artistic are too straight-lined and logical. This I wish to improve in the sense that I want to be able to express myself in this way more clearly, or to at least understand what others are saying in a visual manner.
I do feel though that I would rather build and feel rather than deal with somewhat abstract and esoteric concepts (to me, anyhow) associated with art. It is my task to work on this part of the course, however.
I do feel though that my ability to "cut the crap" - for want of a better term, is somewhat beneficial at times, and allows me to work on the core essence of a problem.

This is a quality I hope I can exploit in my future career, as I plan to work in a more functional aspect of the industry, such as machinery design and fabrication and its management, rather than a more aesthetic and artistic bent (I don't want to be a design superstar, I guess.) My father has been involved in the food industry for now almost 15 years coming from an engineering background, so I have seen many of the parts that make up a successful food manufacturing operation, as well as working with the sheetmetal fabrication department contracted to deliver equipment such as conveyors systems to the various factories.

We'll see how the course progresses and what I can get out of it in the future. Wish me luck!