INDUSTRIAL DESIGN

design of products made by large-scale industry for mass distribution. Designing such products means, first, planning their structure, operation, and appearance and then planning these to fit efficient production, distribution, and selling procedures. Clearly, appearance is but one factor in such a complex process. Nevertheless, in consumer goods especially, appearance design is widely accepted as the principal virtue of industrial design; it is that portion of the whole least subject to rational analysis and, like craft secrets of the past, most advantageous in commercial competition. On the other hand, design of equipment for production, for services, and for sports is expected to demonstrate utility; but in these products, too, appearance design is increasingly important. Industrial design is supplied to manufacturers by three kinds of designers: staff designers, fully employed by one firm; designers under contract, who may serve several clients simultaneously, generally avoiding conflicts of interest; and free-lancers, who sell designs, often with royalty agreements, to the best-paying manufacturer. The first industrial designer recognized as such worked under admirable conditions: Peter Behrens (18681940) in 1907 was hired by the Allgemeine Elektrizitts-Gesellschaft in Germany to be their architect, industrial designer, and graphic designerin fact, to give unified visible character to the numerous activities of a giant enterprise. Behrens had other clients and professional duties besides. A member of the architectural profession, Behrens applied its standards and ethics to his work as industrial designer, founding in 1907, with others, an important association of designers and businessmen, the Deutscher Werkbund. As a direct result, a number of these German and Swiss associations became well-established professional organizations of industrial designers. In the United States and Great Britain industrial designers initiated legally recognized professional associations, with codes of conduct, educational standards, etc. In London the Royal Society of Arts designates qualifying practitioners as Royal Designers for Industry; in the United States the Industrial Designers Society of America grants memberships only to those subscribing to codes and limitations of practice. In Britain the Council of Industrial Design was established in 1944 to advise on design, recommend designers, and provide courses in design appreciation for trade and exhibitions for the public. The International Council of Societies of Industrial Design was founded in London in 1957, and within 25 years it had members in more than 40 countries. Industrial design has evolved no unified style, even for industries in which handwork is minimized. There have been, however, four significant style trends. The first of these is an emphasis on impersonality that Behrens was the first to establish. Design for industry, whether determined by an individual or by a group, shows a certain neutrality of expression. Impersonality has, on the one hand, been acclaimed as a natural aspect of mass production and marketing, of average taste in a democratic community; on the other hand, it has been criticized as submission to the machine, contradictory to free, individual expression. The style has, so far, persisted. A second trend in industrial design is packaging, such that the designer provides a protective case for a product, leaving the inner workings to engineers. Complicated mechanical and electronic assemblies that have come into common use require protective shells for safety, cleanliness, and orderly appearance. In this instance, industrial designers are sometimes accused of superficial embellishment of a sort suitable to package design and fashion. The third trend is streamlining, a design principle pioneered by Raymond Loewy and others in the 1930s and still widely employed, although the term itself has fallen out of fashion. As the name suggests, streamlining is characterized by contours designed to minimize resistance to motion through a fluid (as air). Originally associated with trains, automobiles, and other vehicles, the bullet shapes and sleek lines of streamlining were seized by industrial designers and applied to objects (e.g., toasters) intrinsically unassociated with speed. The fourth trend is artificially accelerated obsolescence, that is, design changes that intentionally tempt owners to replace goods with new purchases more frequently than would be necessary as a result of normal wear and tear or established custom. Beginning in the field of fashion, artificial obsolescence has become something of a custom itself in industrialized countries. It operates through public opinion molded by advertising, through price changes, and through improvement and change in utility as well as through appearance change provided by designers. Its assessment must be established on wide social and economic considerations, not on design values alone. Especially in the design of automobiles and large home appliances, artificial obsolescence has aroused strong criticism; yet, because of its demonstrable economic effectiveness, it is used increasingly. It is an essential aspect of fashion and has met with wide approval in the form of disposability in health and hygiene products. Industrial design is a growing force, influencing and influenced by world economy, private efficacy and enjoyment, the arts, engineering, and, not least, education. It has contributed more to economic activity than to aesthetic achievement, and many see the latter as its greatest challenge. The Museum of Modern Art, New York City, among other institutions, has sought to recognize outstanding contributions to industrial design.