Today we shine a light our effervescent industrial design intern, Olivia Pranic. Olivia recently completed her honours year at RMIT with her subsequent project, supervised by Paul Connor, focusing on a market gap in the compact power tool space. We had a chat to Olivia about her time in the studio and how it shaped her interest in the field.
Q. Give me the elevator pitch on what you do.
I’m a graduate industrial designer. I’ve just completed an internship with Whistle which was combined with my industry-integrated honours project at RMIT. At Whistle, I worked on my project while helping others with smaller tasks like preparing presentation materials for a client, design ideation and rendering of new products. I also made a mean coffee.
Q. What have you taken away from this experience?
There were so many learning curves and experiences that I had the privilege of encountering during my time here… I learned how a design consultancy is operated, how products originate and are then brought to fruition, the practices and tools implemented to create a quick and efficient workflow, and how to design for manufacturing processes and feasibility.
Q. WOULD YOU RECOMMEND INTERNSHIP TO OTHER STUDENTS?
Yes, 100%. This has been without a doubt the perfect way to enter the industry and one of the biggest eye openers for me as to what direction I would like my future career to go.
Q. WHERE DO YOU SEE YOURSELF IN 5 YEARS?
As much as this experience has given me insight into my future goals, it has also shown me the endless breadth of the industry – so where I see myself now is not necessarily where I’ll actually end up. But I’m hoping to be employed at an industrial design consultancy, maybe overseas? Wherever a great opportunity may arise… I’m happy to throw myself in. I want to try as many new things as possible to find which areas I really thrive in. That’s worked for me in the past and is how I found myself in industrial design in the first place, which I absolutely love.
Q. Have you found any areas of focus due to this experience?
Yes! I know now that I’m good at problem solving. I want to continue working in positions which rely on this skill. I’ve also have improved my CAD and rendering skills significantly, which I’m sure will come in handy. I also have new experience with prototyping for clients, something I missed out on during my studies (due to the pandemic).
Q. So, what’s next?
I’ve just presented my finished design created through the internship. So I’ll be spending some time updating my folio and looking for my next challenge, a permanent design role. I’m really excited about these next few months ahead.
Olivia has been a joy to have in the studio and her passion for design and problem solving will no doubt serve her well in her future career. We all wish her the best of luck.
You can see Olivia’s full portfolio here.