A fun exercice in Product Design is to draw a men and women version of a design. It’s a good way to be introduced into how to create a design language. You can look at your phone, your computer, your fridge, a bottle of water… and so on, and try to give them a gender. Some may be androgynous.
Feel how a male or feminine design should be, and your line will follow. A quick and simple comparison would be between a muscular male and a sexy female body. There is no magic recipe for that. Best is you define it yourself in order to define better your own style.
About the sketches below, I have in mind a collection that is pure, sleek with a hint of technology. While I try to keep both shoes modern yet elegant. The challenge will be giving a gender to each, keeping the original inspiration of the design. Then, I guess I don’t need to tell you which shoe is which gender. If I have well done my job, it should be obvious enough. :)
DESIGN A
Design B
Which one is Male or Female?
Tell me in the comments.
HINT: To differenciate the gender, I mainly play with:
- the last size (standard size for Women: 36, Men: 42)
- the instep
- the thickness of the outsole
- the thickness of the foam of the tongue
- the curves of the lines
I do not have any checklist in my mind before starting drawing these sketches. I guess I would feel so unnatural if I had one. There is so many ways to give a gender to your Design that best is to leave your creativity driving you. So “the key is not about following a checklist, but to feel it”.
See you guys for the next TIP OF THE DAY ! Hope it helps.
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Hi guys, ahah I guess I need to review my design gender :).
A is female and B is male?