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The Role of Industrial Design
March 5, 2008According to the definition given by the Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA), 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.” An industrial designer combines artistic form with engineering necessities. The ID practitioner blends the human meanings expressed through form, color, and texture with the mechanical realities of function in a way that broadcasts a coherent and purposeful message to those who experience the product. Good industrial design can create additional product benefits through the selection of materials and the architecture of the design. Industrial designers have extensive training in art, as well as training in basic engineering, manufacturing and fabrication processes, and marketing practices.
Dreyfuss (1967) lists five critical goals that industrial designers bring to a team when developing new products:Utility: The product’s human interfaces should be safe, easy to use, and intuitive. Each feature should be safe so that it communicates its function to the user.
Appearance: Form, line, proportion, and color are used to integrate the product into a pleasing whole.
Ease of Maintenance: Products must also be designed to communicate how they are to be maintained and repaired.
Low Costs: Form and features have a large impact on tooling and production costs, so they must be considered jointly by the team.
Communication: Product designs should communicate the corporate design philosophy and mission through the visual qualities of the products.
Industrial Designers usually become involved in a development project almost at the outset. Enthusiasm within the development team increases when industrial designers develop an attractive concept early in the project. When members have a real concept to work towards, the effort ceases to be purely a cerebral exercise, and instead, comes alive with personal meaning.Product Design and Development
The Generic Process for Developing New Products
I. Concept Development
A. Identify Customer Needs
B. Establish Target Specifications
C. Analyze Competitive Products
D. Generate Product Concepts
E. Select a Product Concept
F. Refine Product Specifications
G. Perform Economic Analysis
H. Plan the Remaining Development Project
II. System-Level Design
III. Detail Design
IV. Testing and Refinement
V. Production Ramp-up
Challenges
The challenges for current designers come from many factors. Design is a process of decision making and choosing between trade-offs. The process is dynamic, the goals (objectives) and constraints are constantly shifting as more information becomes available. The “devil is in the details.” Successful design depends upon successful execution through to a detailed result. The design cycle is speeding up, and all of the preceding must be done faster. Finally, product complexity has exceeded what can be grasped by a single designer, and so the design process must proceed in an environment of collaboration.
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