Industrial design is a process of design applied to products that are to be manufactured through techniques of mass production. Its key characteristic is that design is separated from manufacture: the creative act of determining and defining a product's form and features takes place in advance of the physical act of making a product, which consists purely of repeated, often automated, replication. This distinguishes industrial design from craft-based design, where the form of the product is determined by the product's creator at the time of its creation.
All manufactured products are the result of a design process, but the nature of this process can take many forms: it can be conducted by an individual or a large team; it can emphasize intuitive creativity or calculated scientific decision-making, and often emphasizes both at the same time; and it can be influenced by factors as varied as materials, production processes, business strategy and prevailing social, commercial or aesthetic attitudes. The role of an industrial designer is to create and execute design solutions for problems of form, function, usability, physical ergonomics, marketing, brand development, sustainability, and sales.
Product design and industrial design overlap in the fields of user interface design, information design, and interaction design. Various schools of industrial design specialize in one of these aspects, ranging from pure art colleges and design schools (product styling), to mixed programs of engineering and design, to related disciplines such as exhibit design and interior design, to schools that almost completely subordinated aesthetic design to concerns of usage and ergonomics, the so-called functionalist school. Except for certain functional areas of overlap between industrial design and engineering design, educational programs in the U.S. for engineering design require accreditation by the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET) in contrast to programs for industrial design which are accredited by the National Association of Schools of Art and Design (NASAD).
Most industrial designers complete a design or related program at a vocational school or university. Relevant programs include graphic design, interior design, industrial design, architectural technology, and drafting Diplomas and degrees in industrial design are offered at vocational schools and universities worldwide. Diplomas and degrees take two to four years of study. The study results in a Bachelor of Industrial Design (B.I.D.), Bachelor of Science (B.Sc) or Bachelor of Fine Arts (B.F.A.). Afterwards, the bachelor programme can be extended to postgraduate degrees such as Master of Design, Master of Fine Arts and others to a Master of Arts or Master of Science.
Source : Wikipedia
