The Challenge of a Young Industrial Designer

Last year, as part of my second industrial design internship at Soucy, the department entrusted me with designing the 10th anniversary medal for the Course Des Chênes-Toi. It was an exciting challenge that I was eager to take on.

In honour of the event’s 10-year anniversary, the organizers defined the following requirements:

• The medal had to be completely redesigned in a way that showcase’s the race’s new brand image
• The medal had to be more rectilinear than previous versions to stand out

Bearing in mind that Soucy had produced the medals for the previous two editions, I had to innovate by designing a completely different model but ensure the results were as high quality as past editions. Here are the steps I followed to deliver an innovative medal that met the customer’s needs and expectations:

1. Research: with the information provided by the customer, I quickly began the research phase. I drew up a portrait of the current medals market to fully understand current trends and processes.
2. Ideation: I then produced a large number of sketches that met the customer's requirements as closely as possible. The design department selected the best concepts which we then presented to the customer.
3. Refinement: following this meeting, the race committee selected the designs they liked best. This paved the way for the refinement phase where some details were reworked.
4. Final presentation: three models made it to the final presentation. The organizers then selected the medal they would use for the race.

I had a great time working on this project, and I'd go so far as to say it was the most stimulating experience I've had during my internship! In fact, it was my first official contribution to the company, and it's now a project I'm proud to have taken part in.

All in all, this experience enabled me to learn how to quickly adapt to a customer's requests and to view them from their perspective. I’ll therefore be able to prioritize them to achieve a result that not only satisfies the client, but also represents me.

I was eager to rejoin the Soucy team for my third internship in the summer of 2017, where I was once again entrusted with the medal design project! I'll have the chance to present the 2018 model in a future article. Stay tuned!

Marie-Jeanne Handfield is in her third year at the Université de Montréal and has just completed her 3rd internship at Soucy International. "The members of the industrial design department wanted to learn from my worldview, but they were the real teachers after all. I can say without a doubt that my skills have truly broadened as a result of my time as an intern at Soucy."