“For most of us, design is invisible until it fails.” — Bruce Maul
The invisibility of modern Industrial Designs
I meet a lot of people that are unsure of what the term ‘Industrial Design’ means. “So like graphic design?” is the common one. Similar questions are raised when I use the term ‘Product Design’. Whilst this is quite frustrating and disappointing I think it might actually be a complement to the industry.
Modern Industrial Designers have achieved the ultimate goal of designers by making products that have simply faded into the background. They become so essential to our lives that we don’t stop to consider how or why they work (unless you are an Industrial Designer). They just do.
The presumption that Design always relates to ‘graphics’ is just a sign of the times we live in. Our smartphones deliver endless amounts of graphical content reducing the significance of the hardware that presents them. We barely notice it. In the words of Bruce Maul: “For most of us, design is invisible until it fails.” Until your iPhone is out of battery or your computer crashes, the content on the screen is far too immersive. The number of physical user interfaces in many consumer products has followed a steady decline over time. Smartphone manufacturers have almost exclusively adopted multi-touch screens that adapt to the app being displayed. This trend means that the possibilities for the design of smartphone hardware have decreased as the screen dictates the form factor. Whilst there is a debate between using plastic or aluminium for the back of a smartphone it is nearly irrelevant. Once the consumer selects the product their content returns to the throne as king.
Another example is automotive products. Fifty years ago there was a distinct difference between the quality levels and appearance of different cars. There was minimal legislation governing what could be done. Now though, the safety and quality expectations of society have resulted in a circumstance where there is effectively no ‘bad’ cars. Industrial Designers have solved all of the problems of quality with cars and made the solutions scalable. The only problem is that now, any car design must fit inside a specifically shaped box reducing the opportunity for creativity. Hence the design of a car fades into the background as it is so similar to that of a hundred other cars.
Thankfully, companies like Pagani continue to demonstrate that there is still room for beautiful design within the stringent confinements of automotive regulations.
Anyway I’m an amateur ID student so I’m interested to hear what more experienced designers have to say so please leave a note : )
