Montreal (Canada), 25 June 2024 — Members of Quebec’s design community gathered in Montreal last week to recognize World Industrial Design Day 2024 during an event hosted by World Design Organization (WDO)®, in partnership with WDO Corporate Member Bombardier Recreational Products Inc. (BRP) and Association des Designers Industriels du Québec (ADIQ).
Bringing together local design leaders as well as distinguished guests from across the UNESCO-designated City of Design, the celebration included a series of inspiring presentations exploring this year’s World Industrial Design Day theme of let’s get emotional.
With the goal of exploring the intersection of design and emotions through the lens of ethnography, business and global community, speakers included WDO President Dr. Thomas Garvey, BRP Chief Design Officer Denys Lapointe and design anthropologist Solen Roth.
“With our headquarters in Montreal, we are proud to support the city’s annual World Industrial Design Day event alongside our local members,” notes WDO President Thomas Garvey. “This year, we are honoured to have the support of our partners at BRP as we gather, discuss and dissect the secrets of emotions in design.”
Observed annually on 29 June, World Industrial Design Day celebrates and recognizes the power of design to strengthen economic, social, cultural and environmental development around the world. This year’s theme encourages designers to embrace emotion as an essential tool to connect, to empathize and to ultimately design products, services and experiences that encourage a more inclusive future.
“Designers play an active role in creating products which can provide different levels of emotions,’’ said Denys Lapointe, Chief Design Officer at BRP. “It’s an honour to contribute to a community that values the emotional connection we foster through design.”
Key learnings from the event included insights on leveraging emotion to innovate towards design solutions with long-term impact, as well as practical tips on how to implement more empathetic design approaches. For more information about World Industrial Design Day, please visit wdo.org/widd.