Trans RINA, Vol 154, Part C1, Intl J Marine Design, Jan - Jun 2012


Sometimes designers tend to skip them ‘for better appearance’


but those might be essential


functionality. Boat builders or owners might fit them at further stages significantly damaging the appearance of craft.


9. INTERACTION BETWEEN DESIGNER AND CUSTOMER


Some notes should be made about interaction with the customer during styling and concept design stage. In our practice, styling, naval architecture and engineering is done by one team where the team members are used to listen each other and work in tight cooperation from first sketch till launching. With some projects a customer will get ‘concept’ pictures


of appearance from


stylist/designer, and would look for a naval architect to make it work. It is difficult to take such commissions as a wide range of specialists should be involved from the early stages thus avoiding problems often inherited from a stylist’s technical ignorance.


We found that the best result is always achieved where the designer is


given freedom in design by only


specifying operational requirements, general directions on styling and an indication project budget. Situations where the customer is telling ‘lift chine at bow by 10mm’ are always undesirable; common attitude is that a designer is hired to do his job based on his expertise and not to be a customer’s draftsman. On other side, the design is not a matter of designer’s self-expression and experiment for customer’s money, but a solution of customer’s task.


An important stage for the designer involved in custom design for a particular private customer is to study his tastes – it would be helpful to look at his house and office, find out the model of car(s) he is driving, style of his clothing, the cultural environment and typical boat use in his location, previous experience with boats, etc. The customer’s family decisions thus


those should be


is often involved in making studied too.


In our


experience, at this stage the designer should become to some extent a friend of the customer to deliver the best possible result by knowing his personality.


Of course, influence of customers on design decisions is vital but customers’ trust in designer’s experience and taste is important, so designer will have the authority to push the design process to the right side. Some customers can really make the designer go crazy with changes and ask for many design options, or a ‘try something else’ attitude, and those extras should be foreseen in design agreement. Generally too many options always results random choice by customer that is not always the best; give ‘one good and one bad options’ approach provides better result. Instead of a quantity of options we tend to provide one well worked out proposal of our liking (never showing to the customer anything that we don’t


8.


2. 3.


4. 5.


6. 7.


for


like!) based on our experience and study customer’s preferences.


playing of the


In general, dealing with the customer on creative issues and


psychological, but should be subject of another paper. 10. CONCLUSION


From obtaining design requirements to launching, design is a creative process that requires skills, knowledge and talents of a number of specialists. The biggest challenge of a boat designer is not just to be innovative, but to stay such within limitations imposed by practicality and regulations. Our philosophy is to design practical boats that are stylish and comfortable, but – and this is also top priority - good for the Sea and safe.


11. REFERENCES 1.


Nazarov A. Application of catamaran concept for small commercial, special and pleasure craft// 16th High Speed Marine Conference (HPMV-2011) 2011. – E18.


Vessels - Shanghai, China,


Recreational Boating Statistics 2010. US Cost Guard. COMDTPUB P16754.24


Nazarov A. Comfort on boats and yachts: design factors //Australian Power Multihull Vol.17. – May 2011.


Smullin, J. Noise and vibration specification for large yachts. Noise and vibration engineering, pp.1-14.


Hix, L. Interior design methods for yacht design and boat building industry. Westlawn Institute of Marine Technologies, 2001.


Sorensen E.W. Sorensen’s guide to powerboats. International Marine, 2002.


Павлюченко Ю.Н. Основы художестенного конструирования судов. Л.Судостроение. 1985. (Pavluchenko Yu. N. Fine art of ship design. - in Russian)


Edmunds A. Designing power and sail. Bristol Fashion Publications, 1998.


with his liking and disliking very


C-54


©2012: The Royal Institution of Naval Architects


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