Every year, World Industrial Design Day is the perfect opportunity for the design community to focus its energy and intellect on a particular facet of the industry. Capitalising on the momentum from the previous two years, Icsid chose 2015 as the year to redefine the profession.
REDEFINING INDUSTRIAL DESIGN
With the advent of the information and knowledge economy, a new kind of industrial design practice has emerged. Today’s industrial designers, once considered to be technical workers, are now characterised as knowledge workers, working to develop new strategies, systems and processes as much as tangible products. They reflect the nature of our times, an era increasingly being referred to as the third industrial revolution, where the digitisation of manufacturing has transformed the way goods are made with a focus on mass usage, rather than mass production.
In February 2015, Icsid embarked on an online campaign to better define today’s profession of industrial design. It launched a website to provide a forum for the international design community to upload their thoughts, research, pictures and other relevant content about some of the changes in the industry and what it means to practice industrial design today. To view some of the contributions from the international design community, you can search the hashtag #renewID on Twitter.
In June 2015, close to 1000 contributions were made with a reach of over 464,000 social media users. Icsid reviewed the content received and identified some of the recurring messages. As a result of the outstanding feedback, Icsid crafted a definition that adequately encompassed these rich and diverse perspectives, and presented it at the 29th General Assembly in October 2015. To read this definition, please click here.