industrial design

Branch of artistic activity that came into being as a result of the need to design machine-made products, introduced by the Industrial Revolution in the 18th century. The purpose of industrial design is to ensure that goods satisfy the demands of fashion, style, function, materials, and cost.

Industrial design became a fully fledged professional activity in the early 20th century through the efforts of the pioneering US industrial designers who worked with the large-scale manufacturers of the new mass-produced technological goods – Eastman Kodak, Gestetner, General Electric, and others. From the USA the profession moved across the Atlantic in the years after 1945. Germany and Italy made special contributions to its evolution after that date and by the 1980s all the main industrialized countries had their own industrial design professions, complete with design education systems and programmes of support, whether through governmental or privately sponsored bodies.