Industrial Design

Everyday we use our laptops for work or study, relax by listening to music on an iPod or watching TV, cook with ovens or microwaves, travel by car, bus or train. The objects we use are so common, many of us probably never stop to think about how these objects were made, or who actually designed them.

Designing everyday objects is not a modern activity. The first cavemen who sharpened pieces of stone to make knives or arrowheads were designers. Industrial design, however, is a modern process – designing objects for mass production. Industrial design is not the individual craftsman or artisan working alone to produce a single object, something which will never be repeated. Industrial design is the process of producing the things we all have and use in our homes and places of work every day.

The industrial designer, therefore, is not an artist, but a person who also has to know about engineering, usability, aesthetics, marketing, brand development and sales. Consequently, the industrial designer is now usually part of a team of people. While famous designers like Phillippe Starck are often credited with having produced an object, their work is often little more than putting the finishing touches to a long process.

According to the Industrial Design Society of America, a professional organisation of industrial designers, "Industrial Design 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." This means that design is a process, rather than a one-off activity. The designer and his or her team are responsible for comparative product research, model making, prototyping and testing.

One example of this is the Coca-Cola bottle. It has a shape which is often described as “iconic” – instantly recognisable even without the Coca-Cola logo on it. But the bottle we know today was not the original one, but the result of many similar early versions. Indeed, recent marketing developments mean that the bottle is now available in many different sizes, and made of either glass or plastic. Yet it is still always immediately recognisable. The iPod has a similar story – even though it is a much more recent invention, the iPod has developed from the bulky early versions through to the various models and sizes available today. A car like the Mini, too, is still in production today, and still instantly recognisable, even though the 2008 model is very different to the car first produced in the 1950s. These objects have evolved, their shape changing in response to new technological possibilities and user demands.

Next time you boil water in a kettle, steam rice in a rice cooker, turn the ignition key in your car, switch on your radio or type an email on your laptop, stop to think how easy or difficult it is to use, how its form follows its function, how good it looks, and think of the work of the industrial designers that went into it!

2. Render the text.

Supplement I

Professions and positions

A. acrobat, actor/actress, accountant, architect, athlete, artist, author, auto mechanic, announcer, archeologist, astronaut, ambassador

B. barber, baker, banker, butcher, bookkeeper, bricklayer, bus driver, builder, businessman/woman, biologist, broadcaster, bartender, bodyguard, babysitter, butler

C. carpenter, cashier, clerk, captain, counselor, correspondent, coach, computer programmer, cook/chef, chauffeur, composer, conductor, cowboy, contractor, cartoonist, critic, chemist, clown, construction worker

D. dancer, dentist, decorator, detective, dressmaker, director, diplomat, doctor, designer, deejay (d.j.), doorman

E. editor, engineer, educator, electrician, ecologist, entertainer, explorer, economist, exhibitor, extra (theater, film)

F. fireman, farmer, florist, filmmaker, factory worker, flight attendant, forester, fisherman

G. gardener, general, guide, garbage man, geologist, governor, geographer, greengrocer, gambler, gas station attendant, genealogist, gravedigger

H. hairdresser, host/hostess, hotel manager, housekeeper, humorist, historian, homemaker, headmaster, highwayman, horticulturist, hunter

I. inventor, industrialist, interpreter, inspector, insurance agent, illustrator, innkeeper, instructor, ironmonger

J. jeweler, judge, junkman, jack-of-all-trades, jockey, journalist, jester

K. kindergarten teacher, king, knight, keyboardist

L. lawyer, librarian, lab technician, lumberjack, lifeguard, locksmith, laundress, lady-in-waiting, lecturer, linesman, linguist, longshoreman;

M. manager, mayor, marketer, mountain climber, mechanic, mathematician, model, musician, minister, maid, milkman, magician, miner, midwife

N. nurse, novelist, newsreader, naturalist, nutritionist

O. office worker, oceanographer, oculist, operator, oarsman, obstetrician

P. painter, pilot, playwright, plumber, physical therapist, pharmacist, postman, priest, physicist, poet, psychologist, photographer, politician, police officer, producer, president, professor, prime minister, printer, philosopher

Q. queen, quiz show host, quack, quilt maker

R. reporter, repairman, ranger, robber, real estate agent, receptionist, rabbi, referee, radiologist, rock star, rocket scientist

S. sailor, salesman/saleswoman, secretary, soldier, sculptor, shoemaker, singer, surgeon, scholar, security guard, sociologist, senator, steward

T. teacher, tailor, typist, taxi driver, translator, travel agent, thief, technician, teller, taxman, timekeeper, trapper, trucker, tutor

U. umpire, undertaker, upholsterer, usher

V. veterinarian, valet, vender, vicar, violinist, ventriloquist, vocalist

W. writer, watchmaker, weightlifter, weatherman, welder, waiter/waitress, weaver, wizard, warrior, wood worker, wrecker

X. x-ray technician, xylophonist

Y. yeoman, yoga instructor

Z.zoologist

SupplementII