Industrial design is the use of a combination of
applied artApplied art is the application of design and aesthetics to objects of function and everyday use. Whereas fine arts serve as intellectual stimulation to the viewer or academic sensibilities, the applied arts incorporate design and creative ideals to objects of utility, such as a cup, magazine or...
and
applied scienceApplied science is the application of scientific knowledge transferred into a physical environment. Examples include testing a theoretical model through the use of formal science or solving a practical problem through the use of natural science....
to improve the
aestheticsAesthetics is a branch of philosophy dealing with the nature of beauty, art, and taste, and with the creation and appreciation of beauty. It is more scientifically defined as the study of sensory or sensori-emotional values, sometimes called judgments of sentiment and taste...
,
ergonomicsErgonomics is the study of designing equipment and devices that fit the human body, its movements, and its cognitive abilities.The International Ergonomics Association defines ergonomics as follows:...
, and
usabilityUsability is the ease of use and learnability of a human-made object. The object of use can be a software application, website, book, tool, machine, process, or anything a human interacts with. A usability study may be conducted as a primary job function by a usability analyst or as a secondary job...
of a
productIn general, the product is defined as a "thing produced by labor or effort" or the "result of an act or a process", and stems from the verb produce, from the Latin prōdūce ' lead or bring forth'. Since 1575, the word "product" has referred to anything produced...
, but it may also be used to improve the product's marketability and
productionManufacturing is the use of machines, tools and labor to produce goods for use or sale. The term may refer to a range of human activity, from handicraft to high tech, but is most commonly applied to industrial production, in which raw materials are transformed into finished goods on a large scale...
. The role of an industrial designer is to create and execute design solutions for problems of form, usability, physical ergonomics, marketing, brand development, and sales.
The first use of the term "industrial design" is often attributed to the designer
Joseph Claude SinelJoseph Claude Sinel , also known as Jo Sinel or Auckland Jo, was a pioneering industrial designer.Sinel was born in Auckland, New Zealand where his father ran a stevedoring operation...
in 1919 (although he himself denied this in interviews), but the discipline predates 1919 by at least a decade. Its origins lie in the industrialization of consumer products. For instance the
Deutscher WerkbundThe Deutscher Werkbund was a German association of artists, architects, designers, and industrialists. The Werkbund was to become an important event in the development of modern architecture and industrial design, particularly in the later creation of the Bauhaus school of design...
, founded in 1907 and a precursor to the
Bauhaus', commonly known simply as Bauhaus, was a school in Germany that combined crafts and the fine arts, and was famous for the approach to design that it publicized and taught. It operated from 1919 to 1933. At that time the German term stood for "School of Building".The Bauhaus school was founded by...
, was a state-sponsored effort to integrate traditional crafts and industrial mass-production techniques, to put
GermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
on a competitive footing with
EnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
and the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
.
General
The objective of this area is to study both function and form, and the connection between product, the user and the environment - product as it happens in any other architecture area, being the only difference, that here the professionals that participate in the process are all specialized in small scale design, rather than in other massive colossal equipments like buildings or ships. Industrial designers do not design the gears or motors that make machines move, or the circuits that control the movement (that task is usually attributed to engineers), but they can affect technical aspects through usability design and form relationships. And usually, they partner a whole of other professionals like marketers, to identify and fulfill needs, wants and expectations.
In depth
"Industrial design (ID) is the professional service of creating and developing concepts and specifications that optimize the function, value and appearance of products and systems for the mutual benefit of both user and manufacturer."
Design, itself, is often difficult to describe to non-designers and engineers because the meaning accepted by the design community is not one made of words. Instead, the definition is created as a result of acquiring a critical framework for the analysis and creation of artifacts. One of the many accepted (but intentionally unspecific) definitions of design originates from
Carnegie Mellon's School of DesignThe Carnegie Mellon School of Design in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States is a degree granting institution and a division of Carnegie Mellon University's College of Fine Arts. The School of Design offers a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in either industrial design or communication design...
, "Design is the process of taking something from its existing state and moving it to a preferred state." This applies to new artifacts, whose existing state is undefined, and previously created artifacts, whose state stands to be improved.
According to the
Chartered Society of DesignersThe Chartered Society of Designers , headquartered in London, England, is the professional body for designers. It is the world's only Royal chartered body of professional designers...
, design is a force that delivers innovation that in turn has exploited creativity. Their design framework known as the Design Genetic Matrix determines a set of competences in 4 key genes that are identified to define the make up of designers and communicate to a wide audience what they do. Within these genes the designer demonstrates the core competences of a designer,engineer and specific competences determine the designer as an 'industrial design engineer '. This is normally within the context of delivering innovation in the form of a three dimensional product that is produced in quantity. However the definition also extends to products that have been produced using an industrial process.
According to the ICSID (
International Council of Societies of Industrial DesignInternational Council of Societies of Industrial Design was founded in 1957 from a group of international organizations focused on industrial design. Today Icsid is a worldwide society that promotes better design around the world...
), "Design is a creative activity whose aim is to establish the multi-faceted qualities of objects, processes, services and their systems in whole life-cycles. Therefore, design is the central factor of innovative humanization of technologies and the crucial factor of cultural and economic exchange."
It is critical to the product development process that the industrial design and engineering aspects of a product are considered simultaneously. This can occur via two methods. The most streamlined method is for the product designer to have an education and/or background that encompasses both industrial design and engineering. Unfortunately, there are very few educational establishments (especially in the United States) that embrace this educational ideology. A survey of engineering and industrial design curricula clearly demonstrates this fault. The other method, which is utilized by most U.S. companies, is to employ or contract with separate teams that focus somewhat independently, with occasional meetings to ensure the primary goals of each team are met or exceeded. The difficulty with the latter process is that there is sometimes a vast disconnect behind the skills, education, and understanding of the two groups. This disconnect can sometimes become extremely cumbersome to the design process, and possibly fatal to the ultimate success of the product.
Process of design
Although the process of design may be considered 'creative', many analytical processes also take place. In fact, many industrial designers often use various design methodologies in their creative process. Some of the processes that are commonly used are user research, sketching, comparative product research, model making, prototyping and testing. These processes are best defined by the designers and/or other team members. Industrial designers often utilize 3D software,
computer-aided industrial designComputer-aided industrial design is a subset of computer-aided design that includes software that directly helps in product development....
and CAD programs to move from concept to production. Also industrial designers may build a protype first and then use
industrial CT scanningIndustrial CT scanning is a process which uses X-ray equipment to produce three-dimensional representations of components both externally and internally. Industrial CT scanning has been used in many areas of industry for internal inspection of components...
to test for interior defects and also generate a CAD model. From this the manufacturing process may be modified to make the product better. Product characteristics specified by the industrial designer may include the overall form of the object, the location of details with respect to one another, colors, texture, form, and aspects concerning the use of the product
ergonomicsErgonomics is the study of designing equipment and devices that fit the human body, its movements, and its cognitive abilities.The International Ergonomics Association defines ergonomics as follows:...
. Additionally the industrial designer may specify aspects concerning the production process,
choice of materialsMaterial selection is a step in the process of designing any physical object. In the context of product design, the main goal of material selection is to minimize cost while meeting product performance goals. Systematic selection of the best material for a given application begins with properties...
and the way the product is presented to the consumer at the
point of salePoint of sale or checkout is the location where a transaction occurs...
. The use of industrial designers in a product development process may lead to added values by improved
usabilityUsability is the ease of use and learnability of a human-made object. The object of use can be a software application, website, book, tool, machine, process, or anything a human interacts with. A usability study may be conducted as a primary job function by a usability analyst or as a secondary job...
, lowered production costs and more appealing products. However, some classic industrial designs are considered as much
works of artA work of art, artwork, art piece, or art object is an aesthetic item or artistic creation.The term "a work of art" can apply to:*an example of fine art, such as a painting or sculpture*a fine work of architecture or landscape design...
as works of
engineeringEngineering is the discipline, art, skill and profession of acquiring and applying scientific, mathematical, economic, social, and practical knowledge, in order to design and build structures, machines, devices, systems, materials and processes that safely realize improvements to the lives of...
: the
iPodiPod is a line of portable media players created and marketed by Apple Inc. The product line-up currently consists of the hard drive-based iPod Classic, the touchscreen iPod Touch, the compact iPod Nano, and the ultra-compact iPod Shuffle...
, the
JeepJeep is an automobile marque of Chrysler . The first Willys Jeeps were produced in 1941 with the first civilian models in 1945, making it the oldest off-road vehicle and sport utility vehicle brand. It inspired a number of other light utility vehicles, such as the Land Rover which is the second...
, the
Fender StratocasterThe Fender Stratocaster, often referred to as "Strat", is a model of electric guitar designed by Leo Fender, George Fullerton, and Freddie Tavares in 1954, and manufactured continuously by the Fender Musical Instruments Corporation to the present. It is a double-cutaway guitar, with an extended top...
, the Coke bottle, and the VW Beetle are frequently cited examples.
Industrial design also has a focus on technical concepts, products and processes. In addition to considering
aestheticsAesthetics is a branch of philosophy dealing with the nature of beauty, art, and taste, and with the creation and appreciation of beauty. It is more scientifically defined as the study of sensory or sensori-emotional values, sometimes called judgments of sentiment and taste...
, usability, and ergonomics, it can also encompass the engineering of objects, usefulness as well as usability, market placement, and other concerns such as seduction, psychology, desire, and the emotional attachment of the user to the object. These
valuesArchitectural design values make up an important part of what influences an architect and designer when they make their design decisions. However, architects and designers are not always influenced by the same values and intentions. Value and intentions differ between different architectural...
and accompanying aspects on which industrial design is based can vary, both between different schools of thought and among practicing designers.
Product design-Introduction:Product design is the process of creating a new product to be sold by a business or enterprise to its customers. It is concerned with the efficient and effective generation and development of ideas through a process that leads to new products.Product designers conceptualize and...
and industrial design can overlap into the fields of
user interface designUser interface design or user interface engineering is the design of computers, appliances, machines, mobile communication devices, software applications, and websites with the focus on the user's experience and interaction...
,
information designInformation design is the skill and practice of preparing information so people can use it with efficiency and effectiveness. Where the data is complex or unstructured, a visual representation can express its meaning more clearly to the viewer....
and
interaction designIn design, human–computer interaction, and software development, interaction design, often abbreviated IxD, is "the practice of designing interactive digital products, environments, systems, and services." Like many other design fields interaction design also has an interest in form but its main...
. Various schools of industrial design and/or product design may specialize in one of these aspects, ranging from pure art colleges (product styling) to mixed programs of engineering and design, to related disciplines like exhibit design and interior design, to schools where aesthetic design is almost completely subordinated to concerns of function and ergonomics of use (the so-called
functionalist school).
Also used to describe a technically competent product designer or industrial designer is the term
Industrial Design Engineer. The Cyclone vacuum cleaner inventor
James DysonSir James Dyson is a British industrial designer and founder of the Dyson company.He is best known as the inventor of the Dual Cyclone bagless vacuum cleaner, which works on the principle of cyclonic separation. His net worth in 2011 was said to be £1.45 billion.-Early life:Dyson was born in...
for example could be considered to be in this category.
Industrial design rights
Industrial design rights are
intellectual propertyIntellectual property is a term referring to a number of distinct types of creations of the mind for which a set of exclusive rights are recognized—and the corresponding fields of law...
rights that make exclusive the visual design of objects that are not purely utilitarian. A design patent would also be considered under this category. An industrial design consists of the creation of a shape, configuration or composition of pattern or color, or combination of pattern and color in three dimensional form containing aesthetic value. An industrial design can be a two- or three-dimensional pattern used to produce a product, industrial commodity or handicraft. Under the
Hague Agreement Concerning the International Deposit of Industrial DesignsThe Hague Agreement Concerning the International Deposit of Industrial Designs, also known as the Hague system provides a mechanism for registering an industrial design in several countries by means of a single application, filed in one language, with one set of fees...
, a WIPO-administered treaty, a procedure for an international registration exists. An applicant can file for a single international deposit with WIPO or with the national office in a country party to the treaty. The design will then be protected in as many member countries of the treaty as desired.
Notable industrial designers
A number of industrial designers have made such a significant impact on culture and daily life that they have attained a level of notability beyond that of an average designer.
Alvar AaltoHugo Alvar Henrik Aalto was a Finnish architect and designer. His work includes architecture, furniture, textiles and glassware...
, renowned as an
architectAn architect is a person trained in the planning, design and oversight of the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to offer or render services in connection with the design and construction of a building, or group of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the...
, also designed a significant number of household items, such as chairs, stools, lamps, a tea-cart, and vases.
Raymond LoewyRaymond Loewy was an industrial designer, and the first to be featured on the cover of Time Magazine, on October 31, 1949. Born in France, he spent most of his professional career in the United States...
was a prolific American designer who is responsible for the
Royal Dutch ShellRoyal Dutch Shell plc , commonly known as Shell, is a global oil and gas company headquartered in The Hague, Netherlands and with its registered office in London, United Kingdom. It is the fifth-largest company in the world according to a composite measure by Forbes magazine and one of the six...
corporate logo, the original
BPBP p.l.c. is a global oil and gas company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the third-largest energy company and fourth-largest company in the world measured by revenues and one of the six oil and gas "supermajors"...
logo (in use until 2000), the
PRR S1The PRR S1 class steam locomotive was an experimental locomotive that was the largest rigid frame passenger locomotive ever built. The streamlined Art Deco styled shell of the locomotive was designed by Raymond Loewy....
steam locomotive, the
Studebaker StarlightThe Starlight coupe was a unique 2-door body style offered by Studebaker Corporation of South Bend, Indiana from 1947-1952 in its Champion and Commander model series...
(including the later iconic bulletnose), as well as
SchickSchick may refer to:* Schick , a well-known brand of safety razor* Schick Technologies, a major manufacturer of digital X-ray systems for dentists*Schick test a test to determine susceptibility to diphtheriaSchick is the surname of:...
electric razors,
ElectroluxThe Electrolux Group is a Swedish appliance maker.As of 2010 the 2nd largest home appliance manufacturer in the world after Whirlpool, its products sell under a variety of brand names including its own and are primarily major appliances and vacuum cleaners...
refrigerators, short-wave radios,
Le CreusetLe Creuset is a French cookware manufacturer best known for its colorful enameled cast iron casseroles, which the company calls "French Ovens", or "Dutch Ovens"...
French ovens, and a complete line of modern furniture, among many other items.
Richard A. TeagueRichard A. Teague , born in Los Angeles, California, was an industrial designer in the North American automotive industry...
, who spent most of his career with the American Motor Company, originated the concept of using interchangeable body panels so as to create a wide array of different vehicles using the same stampings. He was responsible for such unique automotive designs as the
PacerThe AMC Pacer is a two-door compact automobile produced in the United States by the American Motors Corporation between 1975 and 1980.Its initial design idea was started in 1971. The car's unusual rounded shape with massive glass area greatly contrasted with the three-box architecture with "square,...
,
GremlinThe AMC Gremlin is a two-door subcompact car produced in the United States and Canada by the American Motors Corporation between 1970 and 1978. AMC reduced its development and manufacturing costs by adapting a shortened Hornet platform with a Kammback-type tail...
,
Matador coupeThe AMC Matador is a mid-size car that was built and sold by American Motors Corporation from 1971 to 1978. The Matador came in two generations: 1971 to 1973 and a major redesign from 1974 to 1978...
,
Jeep CherokeeThe Jeep Cherokee is a unibody compact SUV. It shared the name of the original full-size SJ model, but without a body-on-frame chassis, it set the stage for the modern SUV. Its innovative appearance and sales popularity spawned important imitators as other automakers began to notice that this...
, and the complete interior of the
Eagle PremierThe Eagle Premier was a full-size automobile developed by the American Motors Corporation and Renault partnership, inherited by Chrysler Corporation when it acquired AMC in 1987, and marketed from 1987 through 1992...
.
Viktor SchreckengostViktor Schreckengost was a noted American industrial designer and teacher, sculptor, and artist. His wide-ranging work included noted pottery designs, industrial design, bicycle design and seminal research on radar feedback...
designed bicycles manufactured by Murray bicycles for Murray and Sears, Roebuck and Company. With engineer Ray Spiller, he designed the first truck with a cab-over-engine configuration, a design in use to this day. Schreckengost also founded The Cleveland Institute of Art's school of industrial design.
Charles and Ray EamesCharles Ormond Eames, Jr and Bernice Alexandra "Ray" Eames were American designers, who worked in and made major contributions to modern architecture and furniture. They also worked in the fields of industrial and graphic design, fine art and film.-Charles Eames:Charles Eames, Jr was born in...
were most famous for their unique furniture design, such as the
Eames Lounge Chair WoodThe Eames Lounge Chair Wood is a chair designed by husband and wife team Charles and Ray Eames....
and
Eames Lounge ChairThe Eames Lounge Chair and ottoman, correctly titled Eames Lounge and Ottoman , were released in 1956 after years of development by designers Charles and Ray Eames for the Herman Miller furniture company. It was the first chair the Eameses designed for a high-end market. These furnishings are...
.
Another example is German industrial designer
Dieter RamsDieter Rams is a German industrial designer closely associated with the consumer products company Braun and the Functionalist school of industrial design.- Life and career :...
, who is closely associated with the consumer products company
Braun' , formerly Braun AG, is a German consumer products company based in Kronberg, Germany.From 1984 until 2005, Braun was a wholly owned subsidiary of The Gillette Company, which had purchased a controlling interest in the company in 1967...
(where he worked until 1995) and the Functionalist school of industrial design. He is famous for his "ten principles to good design", in addition to designing many iconic products at Braun. More recently,
Jonathan IveJonathan "Jony" Ive, CBE is an English designer and the Senior Vice President of Industrial Design at Apple Inc. He is the leading designer and conceptual mind behind the iMac, titanium and aluminum PowerBook G4, G4 Cube, MacBook, unibody MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, iPod, iPhone, and iPad.- Early...
, the Senior Vice President of Design at Apple Inc., is credited for designing products for the company, which has a strong philosophy in aesthetics. His designs include the
iPodiPod is a line of portable media players created and marketed by Apple Inc. The product line-up currently consists of the hard drive-based iPod Classic, the touchscreen iPod Touch, the compact iPod Nano, and the ultra-compact iPod Shuffle...
and
iPhoneThe iPhone is a line of Internet and multimedia-enabled smartphones marketed by Apple Inc. The first iPhone was unveiled by Steve Jobs, then CEO of Apple, on January 9, 2007, and released on June 29, 2007...
.
See also
- Automotive design
Automotive design is the profession involved in the development of the appearance, and to some extent the ergonomics, of motor vehicles or more specifically road vehicles. This most commonly refers to automobiles but also refers to motorcycles, trucks, buses, coaches, and vans...
- Product design
-Introduction:Product design is the process of creating a new product to be sold by a business or enterprise to its customers. It is concerned with the efficient and effective generation and development of ideas through a process that leads to new products.Product designers conceptualize and...
- Sensory design
Sensory design aims to establish an overall diagnosis of the sensory perceptions of a product, and define appropriate means to design or redesign it on that basis...
- Interaction design
In design, human–computer interaction, and software development, interaction design, often abbreviated IxD, is "the practice of designing interactive digital products, environments, systems, and services." Like many other design fields interaction design also has an interest in form but its main...
- Communication design
Communication design is a mixed discipline between design and information-development which is concerned with how media intermission such as printed, crafted, electronic media or presentations communicate with people...
- Core77
Core77 is an online magazine dedicated to the practice and produce of the field of industrial design. The site began as two students' graduate school project at Brooklyn, New York's Pratt Institute. It serves as a practical resource for students, practitioners and fans of the field, as well as a...
- Industrial Designers Society of America
Industrial Designers Society of America is an organization of professional industrial designers primarily in the United States. Recently IDSA has started chapters in Canada and in China...
- Creative engineering
Creativity refers to the phenomenon whereby a person creates something new that has some kind of value. What counts as "new" may be in reference to the individual creator, or to the society or domain within which the novelty occurs...
- Designer
A designer is a person who designs. More formally, a designer is an agent that "specifies the structural properties of a design object". In practice, anyone who creates tangible or intangible objects, such as consumer products, processes, laws, games and graphics, is referred to as a...
- Emotional Design
Emotional Design is both the title of a book by Donald Norman and of the concept it represents. The main issue is that emotions have a crucial role in the human ability to understand the world, and how they learn new things. For example: aesthetically pleasing objects appear to the user to be more...
by Donald NormanDonald Arthur Norman is an academic in the field of cognitive science, design and usability engineering and a co-founder and consultant with the Nielsen Norman Group. He is the author of the book The Design of Everyday Things....
- Environmental design
Environmental design is the process of addressing surrounding environmental parameters when devising plans, programs, policies, buildings, or products...
- Experience design
Experience design is the practice of designing products, processes, services, events, and environments with a focus placed on the quality of the user experience and culturally relevant solutions, with less emphasis placed on increasing and improving functionality of the design...
- Hague system
- Product development
- Rapid prototyping
Rapid prototyping is the automatic construction of physical objects using additive manufacturing technology. The first techniques for rapid prototyping became available in the late 1980s and were used to produce models and prototype parts. Today, they are used for a much wider range of applications...
- WikID
' is a semantic industrial design engineering reference wiki, originally started in 2008 by the at the . WikID is a design tool, offering information in a compact manner tailored to its user group, being the Industrial Designers....
External links