Éric Fournier, Manager, Industrial Design, Accessories, has 22 years of service with BRP’s Design and Innovation team, but it could be said that BRP has been part of his life since 1976, when a magazine article spotlighting the aesthetics of the Ski-Doo inspired him to become an industrial designer. Since he joined BRP, design has evolved tremendously: “The world is a lot more complex now, and so are the needs of our customers. This impacts the challenges we face, and how we create our products.” As new technologies are developed, new design jobs appear. When Éric graduated, there was only a specialization in industrial design. Today, you can specialize in transport, colours and materials, and UX (user experience), for example.

Éric believes that this fragmentation of the profession will continue over the next 50 years. We’ll see more pointed specializations appear, in order to respond to new market realities, and to overcome issues like sustainability. That’s why he would advise young designers to stay adaptable, to develop complementary skills, to broaden their vision. This vision must, he believes, start with the user: “By looking at how they interact with the product and their environment, and by starting from how they use it, we can come up with something that makes a huge difference compared to what already exists. If we just look at what the competition is doing, we’ll only succeed in improving the product. We have to look at the user if we want to expand our horizons and innovate.”