what is industrial design?

What is Industrial Design? I find myself answering this question for people all the time and yet Industrial Design is all around us.  It touches us constantly in our everyday lives.  Industrial Design lies at the intersection where Art, Engineering and commerce meet.  Its where beauty, function, reliability, profitability, value and enjoyment all come together in harmony.

before & after

Example of the potential for Industrial Design as applied to a product for the first time.

Perhaps a more relatable term for Industrial Design would be Product Design.  Products are anything that are manufactured and sold to perform a function or solve a need.  From consumer electronics to cars, from furniture to housewares, medical devices and industrial equipment, and much more. So many of the products we buy and interact with have been designed by Industrial Designers.

We don’t do it alone.  We work alongside marketing experts and inventors to identify consumer needs. And we team up with engineers to find and develop solutions to meet those needs.

Our contribution includes, but is not limited to:  Innovation, Aesthetics, Ergonomics, Ease of Use and Value-added Features.  And the secret to great design is having a comprehensive understanding of what is possible and then pushing those limits to achieve the unexpected.

For a product to sell, it has to first and foremost meet a need. But that is not enough in this competitive world in which we live. It has to elicit emotion and excitement.  It has to capture interest and be desirable.  In order to be interesting you have to achieve the unexpected.  Anything less is boring and by definition un-interesting.