INDUSTRIAL DESIGN

INDUSTRIAL DESIGN? The industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA) defines industrial design as 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. Dreyfuss (1967) lists five critical goals that industrial designers can help a team to achieve when developing new products: Utility:-The product`s human interfaces should be safe, easy to use, and intuitive . Appearance:-Form, Line, color and proportion are used to integrate the product into a pleasing whole. Ease of maintenance:-How easy they are to be maintained and repaired. Low costs:-Form and features must be considered jointly by the team. Communication:-Product design should communicate the corporate design philosophy and mission.

ASSESING THE NEED FOR INDUSTRIAL DESIGN

Expenditures for industrial design

16 14 12 10 8 6 4 2 0 0 100 200 300 400 500 600 Total Expenditures on Industrial Design,$ Hand held power tool Mobile phones Automobile Industrial food processing equipment % of product development budget spent on industrial Desktop computer peripheral Hand held medical instrument

Jumbo-jet

Fig:-1 Industrial design expenditure for some customer and industrial products.

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These statics should give design teams a rough idea of how much ID investment will be required for a new product. How important is Industrial Design to a product? All products that are used, operated, or seen by people depend critically on ID for commercial success. The more important each dimension is to the product`s success, the more dependent the product is on ID. A convenient means for assessing the importance of ID to a particular product is to characterize importance along two dimensions:
A. B. ERGONOMIC NEEDS AESTHETIC NEEDS

Ergonomic Needs: Ergonomics is a term that encompasses all aspects of product that relate to its human interfaces. Several questions asked in this aspect as given follows: a) b) c) d) e) How important is ease of use? How important is ease of maintenance? How many user interactions are required for the product`s functions? How novel are the user interaction needs? What are the safety issues?

Aesthetic Needs: a) b) c) Is visual product differentiation required? How important are pride of ownership, image, and fashion? Will an aesthetic product motivate the team?

THE IMPACT OF INDUSTRIAL DESIGN

There are two questions arise while examining the impact of industrial design: A. Is industrial design worth the investment? Managers will often want to know, for a specific product or for a business operation in general, how much effort should be invested in industrial design. We can offer several insights by considering the costs and benefits. The cost of ID includes direct cost, manufacturing cost, and time cost.

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a) Direct cost:-Cost of ID services. This quantity is determined by the number and type of designers used, duration of project, and the number of models required etc. b) Manufacturing cost: - It is the expense incurred to implement the product details created through ID .e.g. surface finishes, Rich colors, and other design details can increase tooling cost and production cost. c) Time cost:-It is the penalty associated with extended lead time e.g. delay due to multiple design iterations. B. How Does Industrial Design Establish a Corporate Identity? In product- based companies, ID plays an important role in determining the company`s identity. Industrial design determines a product`s style, which is directly related to the public perception of the firm. Some companies that have effectively used ID to establish visual equity and corporate identity through their product lines include: a) Apple Computer, Inc. c) BMW AG b) Rolex Watch Co. d)Motorola Inc.

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THE INDUSTRIAL DESIGN PROCESS Industrial engineers follow a process for designing the aesthetics and ergonomics of a product. Although this approach may vary depending on the firm and the nature of the project, industrial designers also generate multiple concepts and then work with engineers to narrow these options down through a series of evaluation steps.
ID process can be thought of as consisting of the following phases:

a) b) c) d) e)

f)

Investigation of customer needs. Conceptualization. Preliminary refinement. Further refinement and final concept selection. Control drawings or models. Coordination with engineering, manufacturing, and external vendors.

MANAGEMENT OF THE INDUSTRIAL DESIGN PROCESS Industrial Design is typically involved in the overall product development process during several different phases. The timing of the ID effort depends upon the nature of the product being designed. Timing of industrial Design Involvement
Concept

Planning

Identification of customer Needs

Generation

& Selection

Concept Testing

system Level Design

Detail Design,
Testing, and Refinement

Productio n RampUp

Concept Developement

Technology Driven Products

Industrial Design processes

User Driven products

Fig2:-Relative timing of ID process for two types of products.

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ASSESING THE QUALITY OF INDUSTRIAL DESIGN Assessing the quality of ID for a finished product is an inherently subjective task. I. Quality of the User Interface i. Do the features of the product effectively communicate their operation to the user? ii. Are all features safe?

Examples of product-specific questions include: i. Is the power switch easy to locate?

II. Emotional Appeal This is a rating of the overall consumer appeal of the product. Appeal is achieved by appearance, feel, sound, and smell. i. ii. Examples: i. How does the car door sound when slammed? Does the product express quality? Does the product inspire pride of ownership?

III. Ability to maintain and Repair the product This is a rating of the ease of product maintenance and repair. i. Example: i. How long does it take to change the batteries in the remote controller? Is the maintenance of the product obvious? Is it easy?

IV. Appropriate Use of Resources This is a rating of how well resources were used in satisfying the customer needs. Resources typically refer to the Rupee expenditures on ID and other functions. i. ii. How well were resources used to satisfy the customer requirements? Were environment/ecological factors considered?

V. Product differentiation This is a rating of a product`s uniqueness and consistency with the corporate identity.
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