World Industrial Design Day Date in the current year: June 29, 2024

According to the official definition adopted in 2015, industrial design is a strategic problem-solving process that drives innovation, builds business success, and leads to a better quality of life through innovative products, systems, services, and experience. But how to explain it in plain terms?

Industrial design is the design of mass-produced physical products. Its main purpose is to ensure that the end product satisfies the demands of style, function, usability, materials, and cost. In other words, industrial designers design objects, products, devices, and services that are aesthetically appealing, functional, and easy to manufacture. Most objects you use or interact with in your home, office, and public settings are the result of industrial design.

Industrial design is a creative art that combines calculated decision-making with intuition. The dominance of one or the other in each particular case is determined by a variety of factors such as production processes, materials, business strategy, fashion, sustainability, and more.

What is the difference between industrial design and product design? These terms are sometimes confused with one another (and they certainly do overlap), but there is a difference. Product design is the process of creating a new product that a business intends to sell to its customers; industrial design is the process of bringing aesthetic and usability together in order to mass-produce the product.

Industrial designers focus on the connection between products, their users, and the environment. They usually work in a team with other professionals that focus on specific aspects of the product to ensure that the end result is practical, functional, easy to manufacture, and fulfills the needs and expectations of customers. Alongside industrial designers, such teams typically include engineering designers and engineers, marketing and sales experts, etc.

World Industrial Design Day was created by the World Design Organization (WDO). Formerly known as the International Council of Societies of Industrial Design, it is an international NGO established to promote the profession of industrial design and its contribution to the development of a better environment and society.

The WDO launched World Industrial Design Day in 2007 to celebrate its 50th anniversary. Since then, the global design community has celebrated it every year. The day is marked with a wide range of professional events and activities such as design competitions, workshops, panel discussions, conferences, gallery installations and exhibits, networking events, and more.

However, World Industrial Design Day isn’t just for the professional community. One of its goals is to raise awareness about industrial design among the general public and raise the profile of the profession.