Inocean: Giving Identity to a Drillship (Norway)

Development of a drillship is mainly about capacity, operational security and economy. But in these times of razor-sharp competition, design and identity are gaining significance. A ship also needs character.

During an early stage of the development of the INO-80 concept, Inocean’s designers used an approach similar to that used to develop products such as leisure boats and vehicles – in addition to the ongoing engineering work, they sketched from hand. Such drawings aren’t usually made public, but we’re making an exception.

More life and feeling

Many anticipated that manual sketching would die out as the tools for 3D modelling got better and better. But it didn’t. Inocean designer Nils Erik Werenskiold, whose CV includes a Masters in automotive design from Coventry University, explains why:

“Sketches have several advantages. One of them is that you can visualize ideas and concepts a lot faster. You can be sitting at a meeting and sketch new proposals one after the other and toss ideas back and forth as the drawings take new directions. This is also useful with regard to sales and presentations. And there’s also more life and feeling in a well executed sketch than in pure computer models. That’s why most design agencies with a modicum of self respect use sketches integrally in their concept development,” asserts Werenskiold.

Must keep training

Perhaps the most professional and design-oriented business, the automotive industry, employs certain designers whose speciality is hand-drawn sketches and concept development. Continuous practice is required because sketching techniques call for at least as much maintenance effort as computer skills, according to Werenskiold. When the sketch development is finished and presented, the next step is to create a computer model of the concept using 3D software. This are then used further to construct physical models.

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[mappress]

Source: Inocean, June 8, 2011.