Industrial design is a fundamental component of the consumer experience. Almost every commercial product encountered in our day-to-day lives, from toasters to toothbrushes, has been designed with our taste, our desires and our lifestyles in mind. This book traces the history of industrial design, beginning with the eighteenth-century. It identifies the major figures, organizations, styles and events of the profession, looking particularly at the refinement of industrial design by twentieth-century European artists and the congruence of American design and industry during and immediately after the Great Depression.
To make designs that work and endure (and are also legal), designers need to know—or be able to find—an endless number of details. Whether it's what kind of glue needs to be used on a certain surface, metric equivalents, thread sizes, or how to apply for a patent, these details are essential and must be readily available so designers can create successful products efficiently. The Industrial Design Reference & Specification Book provides designers with a comprehensive handbook they can turn to over and over again. These pages are filled with information that is essential to successful product design, including information on measurement conversions, trademark and copyright standards, patents and product-related intellectual property rights/standards, setting up files for prototyping and production runs, and manufacturing and packaging options to optimize the design. It is an essential resource for any industrial or product designer.
Industrial Design: Materials and Manufacturing Guide, Second Edition provides the detailed coverage of materials and manufacturing processes that industrial designers need without the in-depth and overly technical discussions commonly directed toward engineers. Author Jim Lesko gives you the practical knowledge you need to develop a real-world understanding of materials and processes and make informed choices for industrial design projects. In this book, you will find everything from basic terminology to valuable insights on why certain shapes work best for particular applications. You'll learn how to extract the best performance from all of the most commonly used methods and materials.
This groundbreaking anthology is the first to focus exclusively on the history of industrial design. With essays written by some of the greatest designers, visionaries, policy makers, theorists, critics and historians of the past two centuries, this book traces the history of industrial design, industrialization, and mass production in the United States and throughout the world.
"In the first part of this book Edward Lucie-Smith traces the history of design from its precursors in the ancient and medieval world to the Werkbund and Bauhaus, at which point industrial design can be said to have become aware of itself. The second part is a sequence of case histories which examine the evolution of design i such fields as transportation, furniture, kitchenware, communication, office equipment and packaging. The author highlights the changing role of the designer and the way in which designs have satisfied or failed to satisfy the various needs of consumer, producer, advertiser, or society."--Jacket.
As the Great Depression started in 1929, several dozen creative individuals from a variety of artistic fields, including theatre, advertising, graphics, fashion and furniture design, pioneered a new profession. Responding to unprecedented public and industry demand for new styles, these artists entered the industrial world during what was called the "Machine Age," to introduce "modern design" to the external appearance and form of mass-produced, functional, mechanical consumer products formerly not considered art. The popular designs by these "machine designers" increased sales and profits dramatically for manufacturers, which helped the economy to recover; established a new profession, industrial design; and within a decade, changed American products from mechanical monstrosities into sleek, modern forms expressive of the future. This book is about those industrial designers and how they founded, developed, educated and organized today's profession of more than 50,000 practitioners.
An exploration of the parallel development of product and graphic design from the 18th century to the 21st. The effects of mass production and consumption, man-made industrial materials and extended lines of communication are also discussed.
With the coming flood of connected products, many UX and interaction designers are looking into hardware design, a discipline largely unfamiliar to them. If you’re among those who want to blend digital and physical design concepts successfully, this practical book helps you explore seven long-standing principles of industrial design. Two present and former design directors at IDEO, the international design and innovation firm, use real-world examples to describe industrial designs that are sensorial, simple, enduring, playful, thoughtful, sustainable, and beautiful. You’ll learn how to approach, frame, and evaluate your designs as they extend beyond the screen and into the physical world. Sensorial: create experiences that fully engage our human senses Simple: design simple products that provide overall clarity in relation to their purpose Enduring: build products that wear well and live on as classics Playful: use playful design to go beyond functionality and create emotional connections Thoughtful: observe people’s struggles and anticipate their needs Sustainable: design products that reduce environmental impact Beautiful: elevate the experience of everyday products through beauty
The first publication documenting the work of Brooks Stevens, one of America's most influential twentieth-century designers. Industrial Strength Design: How Brooks Stevens Shaped Your World is a long overdue introduction to the work of visionary industrial designer Brooks Stevens (1911-1995). Believing that an industrial designer "should be a businessman, an engineer, and a stylist, in that order," Stevens created thousands of ingenious and beautiful designs for industrial and household products—including a clothes dryer with a window in the front, a wide-mouthed peanut butter jar, and the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile. ("There's nothing more aerodynamic than a wiener," he explained.) He invented a precursor to the SUV by turning a Jeep into a station wagon after World War II, and streamlined steam irons so that they resembled aircraft. It was Brooks Stevens who, in 1954, coined the phrase "planned obsolescence," defining it as "instilling in the buyer the desire to own something a little newer, a little better, a little sooner than is necessary." This concept has since been blamed for everything from toasters that stop working to today's throwaway culture, but Stevens was simply recognizing the intentionally ephemeral nature of a designer's work. Asked once to name his favorite design, he replied, "none, because every one would have to be restudied for the tastes of tomorrow." This book, which accompanied an exhibit at the Milwaukee Art Museum (the repository for Stevens's papers), includes 250 illustrations of designs by Stevens and his firm, many in color. Glenn Adamson, exhibition curator, contributes detailed studies of individual designs. John Heskett, Kristina Wilson, and Jody Clowes contribute interpretive essays. Also included are a description of the Brooks Stevens Archive and several key writings by Brooks Stevens.
An indispensable reference for design professionals on selecting and using materials in new ways to make their designs ever more efficient and effective Today’s technological advancements have resulted in traditional materials being used in increasingly innovative ways; designers are able to push the materials they use to their limits. Understanding these materials helps designers make inspired, practical decisions with confidence. The Materials Sourcebook for Design Professionals provides comprehensive, accurate information about the basic materials with which designers work on a daily basis, as well as a complete breakdown of new and exciting developments in high-tech materials. This inspiring and useful book is organized into six main sections on all the major design material groups: Metal, Plastic, Wood, Plant, Animal, and Mineral. Each section is broken down into chapters examining individual types of material within each larger group. Nearly one hundred material types are featured, each one supported by examples of how it can be used in a variety of industries, an outline of its most desirable properties, and details about its form and texture. With 450 vibrant illustrations and a clear and accessible layout, this long-term reference tool covers everything designers need to know about the materials they use habitually so they can continue to use them better.
