Industrial design
Industrial design is meant for mass mechanical reproduction, whereas design may also mean one-off production. For the purposes of this site, industrial design starts with the Great Exhibition (1851, UK). [Feb 2006]
applied arts - art - consumer - craft - the Great Exhibition (1851 UK world fair) - design - machine - mass production - technology
In the US, the field of industrial design hit a high-water mark of popularity in the late 1930s and early 1940s, with several industrial designers becoming minor celebrities. Raymond Loewy, Norman bel Geddes, and Henry Dreyfuss remain the best known. [Feb 2006]
The Crystal Palace (1851) - Joseph Paxton
There were 100,000 exhibits from all across the world [at the 1851 Great Exhibition] and the object of the exercise was to try and weld Art and Science together in an effort to stimulate industrial design. Fine Art objects were not permitted unless they also revealed some techinical expertise. The collections were remarkably diverse, some beautiful, but others rather strange. The most popular exhibitions were those housed in the machinery court where the seemingly limitless possibilites of steam power could be seen. -- http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/~city19c/viccity/crystal1.html[Mar 2006]
Definition
Design of products made by large-scale industry for mass distribution. Designing such products means, first, planning their structure, operation, and appearance and then planning these to fit efficient production, distribution, and selling procedures. Clearly, appearance is but one factor in such a complex process. Nevertheless, in consumer goods especially, appearance design is widely accepted as the principal virtue of industrial design; it is that portion of the whole least subject to rational analysis and, like craft secrets of the past, most advantageous in commercial competition. On the other hand, design of equipment for production, for services, and for sports is expected to demonstrate utility; but in these products, too, appearance design is increasingly important. - Brittanica.comIndustrial design is an applied art whereby the aesthetics and usability of products may be improved. Design aspects specified by the industrial designer may include the overall shape of the object, the location of details with respect to one another, colors, texture, sounds, 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. It is important that in order to be an industrial design the product has to be produced in an industrial way, for example an artisan can't be considered an industrial designer although she may challenge the same aspects of a product.
Some industrial designs are viewed as classic pieces that can be regarded as much as works of art as works of engineering. The "Design classic" article lists some of the designs that are regarded as having reached this classic status.
Product design is focused on products only, while industrial design has a broader focus on 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.
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.
In the US, the field of industrial design hit a high-water mark of popularity in the late '30s and early '40s, with several industrial designers becoming minor celebrities. Raymond Loewy, Norman bel Geddes, and Henry Dreyfuss remain the best known.
In the UK, the term "industrial design" increasingly implies design with considerable engineering and technology awareness alongside human factors—a "Total Design" approach, promoted by the late Stuart Pugh (University of Strathclyde) and others. --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Industrial_design [Feb 2006]
Links
http://www.qdesign.co.nz/designhist.html New Zealand, very good info on 5 periods