There is a huge misunderstanding between the overlapping functions in which these two processes—industrial design and design engineering—operate. The following definitions are from Wikipedia:

Industrial Design (ID) is an applied art whereby the aesthetics and usability of products may be improved. Design aspects specified by the industrial designer may include the overall shape of the object, the location of details with respect to one another, colors, texture, sounds, and aspects concerning the use of the product ergonomics.

Design Engineering (DE) is a discipline that creates and transforms ideas and concepts into a product definition that satisfies customer requirements.

The definitions of these two categories of design have a fundamental difference between them: ID is an applied art, whereas DE is a discipline. This means that industrial designers more often have more liberal control than design engineers to design everything that they or their customers like. This is due to the fact that design engineers have only one choice: make it work.

However, since the functions of each are often unclear, customers can easily be confused as to which one they need. Although, misunderstanding which one they need is almost inevitable because of a series of factors:
1. Each industrial designer or design engineer has greed to get the job, so they do not make it clear to the customer what their function is.
2. The customer looks for a “one stop shop”, so they want to accomplish everything in one shot, whereas they may need both an industrial designer and design engineer.
3. Designers believe to be something they are not. Some industrial designers believe to be design engineers as well, only to end up creating a product that is not functional or suitable for manufacturability. Whereas, some design engineers believe to be industrial designers as well, only to end up creating an ugly product that requires a three-armed person to use it.

It is both the industrial designers and design engineers’ job to educate customers. If we compare them with doctors, doctors have done a much better job in educating their customers (patients) about their specialization. You never have a cosmetic surgery doctor performing brain surgery (or vice versa) due to the differences in specializations (and liability). It is very clear on what one can and cannot do. Unfortunately, it is not as clear what one can and cannot do in ID and DE. Therefore, it is a big mess.

When I started in the plastics injection molding industry 26 years ago, I was fortunate to be taught then the difference between ID and DE. And so, as a design engineer, I have always been careful not to step into the ID area. My job is to design a working product and send that to an industrial designer to dress it up.

Having worked with different customers of different backgrounds, I realized that industrial designers and design engineers very rarely recommend that their customers see the other (unlike doctors do). This is a matter of pride and business. There is a fear that the customer will think one is incompetent or that the customer will finish the project with the other one, although unbeknown to the customer the other one is not the expert in both.

I consistently receive product designs from industrial designers, in which case 99% the parts are not ready for manufacturing. They most often times need a draft angle added in order to eject the part from the mold or a wall thickness increased to accommodate the material specification. Somebody has to spend the time to redesign the part, and that has to be paid for by the customer. Often times, the customer does not understand the need to redesign and the sequence of events to validate. This situation creates confusion, frustration, and mistakes.

When a customer pays for a design, they expect the design to be ready for manufacturing. However, many times customers find themselves paying more and waiting longer for product redesign so that it is suitable for manufacturing. Therefore, know the difference between industrial design and design engineering, and ensure you know which one you are dealing with.


Agjah Libohova
Director of Research & Development
Autronic Plastics inc.
29 New York Ave
Westbury, NY, 11590
Ph: 516-333-7577
Fax: 516-333-7695
E-mail: Email Contact
Website: www.apisolution.com

---

Rating: Reviews:

• Great info for newbies March 02, 2010
  Reviewed by 'M. Shepherd'
  @Greg Smith:
  As someone not in the field, but seeking basic information about such 'nuances,' this article was helpful to the newbie me. I'd like to go to school for DE, but most of the so-called 'tech schools' in my area are ID. I appreciate the bluntness of the article, as I'm interested in solving problems, not wasting time with colour schemes or 'trendiness.' Have anyone see the 2009 documentary 'Objectified'? What rubbish.
  & yes, I have the same cell ph fr 5 years ago.
  
  
    Was this review helpful to you?   (Report this review as inappropriate)
  
  
  
• October 09, 2008
  Reviewed by 'Yael'
  The points made in this article were informative to me, someone who is grappling with the job descriptions within the product development department. As director of product development for a confectionary company, I wear many hats, taking on functions of R&D, graphic and structural design of packaging and manufacturing issues. It's helpful to see that there are actual job descriptions relating to these functions.
  
    2 of 2 found this review helpful.
  
    Was this review helpful to you?   (Report this review as inappropriate)
  
  
  
• October 09, 2008
  Reviewed by 'Greg Smith'
  This is article is rubbish. Did this article further the state of the art? I don't think so. Any design engineer worth her salt should already know the distinction between industrial engineering and industrial design.
  
  
    Was this review helpful to you?   (Report this review as inappropriate)
  
  
  
• October 09, 2008
  Reviewed by 'Larsen: design engineer'
  I think that a very important distinction is being made; one that is too often ignored, as the author notes. Unfortunately, in doing so, the author falls into the DE/ID devide which claims many products prey: "My job is to design a working product and send that to an industrial designer to dress it up. "
  A truly well designed product must be created through highly collaborative efforts between designers and engineers. This sequential mode of "engineering" a product then "throwing it over the wall" to designers to dress it up can produce a product with poor ergonomics, gemeric form, and unappealing style. (The opposite case is also detrimantal, as the author indicates.)
  Any product must be treated as an integrated object with both functionality and style: highly interdependent and equally important elements.
  
    5 of 6 found this review helpful.
  
    Was this review helpful to you?   (Report this review as inappropriate)
  
  
  
• October 09, 2008
  Reviewed by 'Doug : Industrial Designer'
  I agree with the distinction between disciplines and the Wikipedia definitions are very easy to understand. In my experience, there is some overlap (some IDs are very good engineers, some DEs are very good designers). And I am concerned with how neatly (crudely?) the author identifies the most basic fault of the designer, engineer, and the client. I feel this greatly underestimates anyone in each of these three roles.
  There are numerous workflow models the DE, ID, and Client can utilize to bring a new product to market. When the author definitively states "My job is to design a working product and send that to an industrial designer to dress it up." really understates (or undercuts) the fullness of a successful collaboration between these two disciplines and their responsibility to the client.
  The methods that develop and deliver the best products are those methods where the engineer and designer work in tandem with the client to address the elements of function, user interaction, feature set, market placement, packaging and production, material, aesthetics, etc. This is by no means a complete list. The point is, when successfully communicating and employing collaborative methods the team is able to minimize 'redesigning of parts at the client's expense', clarify the functional differences of the designer or the engineer, and the reduce the hidden costs and surprises from the client's point of view.
  Just my two cents...
  Doug
  
    9 of 10 found this review helpful.
  
    Was this review helpful to you?   (Report this review as inappropriate)
  
  
  

For more discussions, follow this link …