Iska Jordaan

In my role as Specialist Equipment Product Designer at Cape Union Mart International, I oversee the entire product design lifecycle, focusing on translating market demand into commercially viable products. My core design philosophy is Design for Manufacturing (DTM) to ensure products are commercially viable while delivering customer value at the correct price point. I manage product design across a broad portfolio, including technical hiking gear, travel luggage & backpacks, hiking & camping tents/sleeping bags, and ensuring packaging within a retail space is executed within the correct respective brand requirements and standards. I closely collaborate with the Buying Equipment Lead on material selection and choosing the most suitable supplier for the various products. I create detailed technical drawings, and maintained direct factory liaison to guarantee production quality. My final responsibility is to conduct prototype testing and ensuring products consistently adhered to strict requirements for durability, functionality, sustainability, and brand aesthetics. I design mainly for our own brands such as K-WAY (Hiking, Camping & Travel), MALKIN (Precision Optics), Kaliber (Knives and Tools).

Product Design, Graphics, Marketing and Branding.

Graphic Designer, Social Media Marketing, Assistant production manager

The course will help participants learn to strengthen interpersonal relations, manage stress and handle fast-changing workplace conditions. Participants will become better equipped to perform as a persuasive communicator, creative problem-solver and focused leader.

The course equips students with the knowledge and skills to compose and apply an appropriately researched professional design process to problems related to mass-produced products, resulting in proposals that take account of the desired function, all user aspects, environmental responsibilities and cultural suitability. The graduate will be able to present the proposals, illustrate the desirability of the proposed products and fully justify the applied decision-making in a detailed design report. Graduates will be able to produce a business plan describing and quantifying the necessary steps to transform the proposals into a real product.

Print Design and Publishing course is designed to give one a thorough understanding of the print media environment. One will learn to master the tools, practices and terminology required to produce professional print media. Will enable you to emerge confident enough to apply ones skills from pre-press to post-press: receiving a brief, conceptualizing a visual solution; presenting the ideas professionally; executing a concept digitally through the use of a wide range of industry standard application programs such as Adobe InDesign®, Illustrator® and Photoshop®, and applying finishing art techniques to take the documents to press, and, finally, presenting the final body of work in a professional manner