{"id":53769,"date":"2021-05-25T12:47:30","date_gmt":"2021-05-25T19:47:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.creativecircle.com\/?p=53769"},"modified":"2021-05-25T12:47:30","modified_gmt":"2021-05-25T19:47:30","slug":"understanding-the-role-of-the-industrial-designer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.creativecircle.com\/blog\/understanding-the-role-of-the-industrial-designer\/","title":{"rendered":"Understanding the Role of the Industrial Designer"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bicycles. Sofas. Lawnmowers. Smartphones. Electric cars. Trampolines. What Do All of These Have in Common?<\/h2>\n

All were designed by industrial designers. Emerging as a professional vocation in 1919<\/span> (or perhaps as early as 1909), industrial design is directly linked to the industrial revolution and transition from smaller-scale craft to mass production.<\/p>\n

Straddling the line between art and engineering, industrial design was originally more focused on pure aesthetics and form, but today’s field has shifted. Instead of focusing solely on how a product looks or functions, today’s industrial designer considers a more dynamic range of inputs from ergonomics, end-user benefit, materiality, and corporate branding. From developing concepts for manufactured products and creating physical prototypes, industrial designers also examine materials and production requirements to determine manufacturing costs while presenting the designs and prototype to clients for approval.<\/p>\n

Today, industrial designers design products for people of all ages, ethnicities, races, abilities, gender identities, economic statuses\u2014and pets. While they don\u2019t usually design motors, electrical or microchip circuits, or components that make machines move, their work may impact these more technical aspects. Typically, they work with engineers who focus on the functional, mechanical elements of a product and marketers who specialize in identifying customer needs and expectations\u2014but how do they go about doing that?<\/p>\n

What Does an Industrial Designer Do?<\/h2>\n

In a nutshell: industrial designers develop concepts for manufactured products at the intersection of art, business, and engineering.\u00a0 And these manufactured products are born from a design process that can take many forms. It can be led by an individual or by a team, including professionals with varied expertise\u2014from industrial designers, engineers, graphic designers, marketing, sales, branding, and more.<\/p>\n

Factors like materials, production processes, cost, business strategy influence the industrial design process\u2014and take into account prevailing social, aesthetic, and commercial attitudes. As an applied art, industrial design focuses on combining aesthetics with more user-centered considerations and often aims to provide solutions for problems of form, function, ergonomics, sustainability, brand development, marketing, and sales.<\/p>\n

While most designers may work primarily in offices (home or otherwise), they may also travel to design centers, testing facilities, users’ homes, exhibit sites, and production facilities. Industrial design is part of many different worlds\u2014here are some of the top practice areas:<\/p>\n