Industrial design

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An iPod, an industrially designed product.

KitchenAid 5 qt. Stand Mixer, designed in 1937 by Egmont Arens, remains very successful today

Western Electric model 302 Telephone, found almost universally in the United States from 1937 until the introduction of touch-tone dialing, as the Family's life was extended into the 1960s^[1]

Calculator Olivetti Divisumma 24 designed in 1956 by Marcello Nizzoli

Industrial design is the use of a combination of applied art and applied science to improve the aesthetics, ergonomics, and usability of a product, but it may also be used to improve the product's marketability and production. 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.^[2]

The first use of the term "industrial design" is often attributed to the designer Joseph Claude Sinel in 1919 (although he himself denied this in interviews), but the discipline predates 1919 by at least a decade. Christopher Dresser is considered the world's first Industrial Designer. Industrial design's origins lie in the industrialization of consumer products. For instance the Deutscher Werkbund, founded in 1907 and a precursor to the Bauhaus, was a state-sponsored effort to integrate traditional crafts and industrial mass-production techniques, to put Germany on a competitive footing with England and the United States.

The earliest use of the term may have been in the following work:

The Art Union. A monthly Journal of the Fine Arts Volume One for the year ending December 1839 Published at the Art Union Office Catherine Street Strand Page 143

“Dyce’s report to the Board of Trade on foreign schools of Design for Manufactures. Mr Dyces official visit to France, Prussia and Bavaria for the purpose of examining the state of schools of design in those countries will be fresh in the recollection of our readers. His report on this subject was ordered to be printed some few months since, on the motion of Mr Hume.”

“The school of St Peter, at Lyons was founded about 1750 for the instruction of draftsmen employed in preparing patterns for the silk manufacture. It has been much more successful than the Paris school and having been disorganized by the revolution, was restored by Napoleon and differently constituted, being then erected into an Academy of Fine Art: to which the study of design for silk manufacture was merely attached as a subordinate branch. It appears that all the students who entered the school commence as if they were intended for artists in the higher sense of the word and are not expected to decide as to whether they will devote themselves to the Fine Arts or to Industrial Design, until they have completed their exercises in drawing and painting of the figure from the antique and from the living model. It is for this reason, and from the fact that artists for industrial purposes are both well paid and highly considered (as being well instructed men) that so many individuals in France engage themselves in both pursuits.”

The practical draughtsman's book of industrial design: was printed in 1853

Definition of industrial design engineering

General

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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."^[3]

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 Design, "Design is the process of taking something from its existing state and moving it to a preferred state." ^[4] 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 Designers, design is a force that delivers innovation that in turn has exploited creativity.^[5] 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 Design), "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."^[6]

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

A Fender Stratocaster with sunburst finish, one of the most widely recognized electric guitars in the world.

Model 1300 Volkswagen Beetle

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 design and CAD programs to move from concept to production. Also industrial designers may build a protype first and then use industrial CT scanning 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 ergonomics. Additionally the industrial designer may specify aspects concerning the production process, choice of materials and the way the product is presented to the consumer at the point of sale. The use of industrial designers in a product development process may lead to added values by improved usability, lowered production costs and more appealing products. However, some classic industrial designs are considered as much works of art as works of engineering: the iPod, the Jeep, the Fender Stratocaster, 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 aesthetics, 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 values and accompanying aspects on which industrial design is based can vary, both between different schools of thought and among practicing designers.^[7]

Product design and industrial design can overlap into the fields of user interface design, information design and interaction design. 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).^[8]

Also used to describe a technically competent product designer or industrial designer is the term Industrial Design Engineer. The Cyclone vacuum cleaner inventor James Dyson for example could be considered to be in this category^[A].

Industrial design rights

Industrial design rights are intellectual property 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 Designs, 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

Chair by Charles Eames

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 Aalto, renowned as an architect, also designed a significant number of household items, such as chairs, stools, lamps, a tea-cart, and vases. Raymond Loewy was a prolific American designer who is responsible for the Royal Dutch Shell corporate logo, the original BP logo (in use until 2000), the PRR S1 steam locomotive, the Studebaker Starlight (including the later iconic bulletnose), as well as Schick electric razors, Electrolux refrigerators, short-wave radios, Le Creuset French ovens, and a complete line of modern furniture, among many other items. Richard A. Teague, 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 Pacer, Gremlin, Matador coupe, Jeep Cherokee, and the complete interior of the Eagle Premier. Viktor Schreckengost 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 Eames were most famous for their unique furniture design, such as the Eames Lounge Chair Wood and Eames Lounge Chair.

Another example is German industrial designer Dieter Rams, who is closely associated with the consumer products company Braun (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 Ive, 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 iPod and iPhone.

See also

Design portal

• Automotive design
• Product design
• Sensory design
• Interaction design
• Communication design
• Core77
• Form follows function
• Industrial Designers Society of America
• Creative engineering
• Designer
• Emotional Design by Donald Norman
• Environmental design
• Experience design
• Hague system
• Product development
• Rapid prototyping
• WikID

Notes

References

Objects of Desire: Design and Society Since 1750. Adrian Forty, Thames Hudson, May 1992. ISBN 978-0500274125

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Product Design

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Industrial design

• U.S. Department of Labor's Handbook: Commercial and Industrial Designers
• Doodles, Drafts and Designs: Industrial Drawings from the Smithsonian (2004) Smithsonian Institution Libraries