Role Of Industrial Design

The industrial design is a specialized field of work that refers to the activity of achieving ornamental or formal appearance for mass-produced items or products. In simple words, industrial design is a creative and artistic profession, which involves the creation of a product design, its features, and branding. These products can be a toy, furniture, or even the packaging of a certain item.

Legally, industrial design also refers to a registration system, which protects the functional and unique ornamental characteristics of a product that results from the design activity. However, as easy as the process seems, it actually is not. In fact, industrial design involves numerous complications and problems that require constant attention in order to ensure the success of a product.

Therefore, when it comes to working for an upcoming project, it is imperative for you to cover the basics before you even think about accepting the task. Remember, only after you have mastered the basics it will be possible for you to create a successful product appreciated by consumers. The question is: what are these basics and how can you incorporate them? Well, read below and find out:

Goals

A designer has three roles: performing market research, conceptualizing the design of the product, and creating branding solutions. As you can see, all three of these roles are not exactly easy to perform. Therefore, the first basic element of industrial design is to familiarize yourself with the ultimate goals of the project assigned to you.

Now, you will find many goals that will require more effort and time from your end. However, this does not mean you forget to give importance to the hundreds of other goals that require attention in order to introduce a successful product into the marketplace. Therefore, when it comes to successful industrial design, make sure to understand all goals.

Research

Now that you have understood all goals of the project, it is imperative that you research the location and the specifics. Keep in mind that every successful item in the market has undergone significant research by an industrial designer. Similarly, you are required to do the same and have to carry out thorough market analysis and research.

Additionally, you must also familiarize yourself with the local codes and building regulations. This way, you will learn about all possible problems that you might face in the designing phase and can outline solutions to avoid them. You can also consider looking at similar projects to understand how they tackled numerous challenges presented during the design phase.

Cost

The design of any project can get incredibly costly. Now, why is that? As mentioned earlier, industrial designers have three main roles of which one is to conceptualize the design of the product. This process includes creating presentations that cover the product's usability, design, features, and functionality. Therefore, any errors in this phase can cause numerous troubles in the development phase, thus leaving no option than to repeat the whole process.

This repetition of the entire process will of course require additional resources and significant time and effort. Therefore, the third thing you must do is look at ways you can control the cost and perform the designing phase carefully. This way, you can keep your budget from going out of hand.

Specialists

The final thing industrial designers are required to do is critically look at all the aspects of the project and determine the number of specialists required to ensure project completion within time.

Industrial Revolution And History

The Industrial Revolution, manufacturing companies began experimenting with ways to move large quantities of their goods at once. Skids were the first pallets ever developed, appearing in American factories along with low-lift trucks in the late 1880s. These trucks were hand operated, could only lift the goods 5 to 7 centimeters off the ground, and because they required so much manual effort from the operator, could only move the goods about one meter laterally.


Invention and Development

Even though these early forklifts were hard to operate, they quickly proved their worth, and major companies grabbed a hold of the idea and worked to make more efficient models. By the 1910s, manufacturing, shipping and machinery companies worked off each other's ideas to create a higher lift truck that could finally lift goods more than 5 centimeters off the ground. Along with this truck came the standardisation of the pallet, which is the same model we use today, allowing goods to be stacked on top of each other safely. This standardisation allowed machinery companies like Clark and Yale to produce lift trucks (forklifts) that could be used by any industry.

The 1920s and 1930s brought sophistication to the forklift. For the first time, it started looking like its own specialised machine instead of a simple tractor with a lifting attachment. Trade magazines ran advertisements for the sale of forklifts, and major forklift manufacturers made strides in the industrial market.

Wartime Innovation

World Wars I and II happened simultaneously along with the development of the forklift, and if it were not for this valuable piece of technology, feuding countries may not have been able to provide weapons and supplies to their troops at the rates needed. World War II acted as a major spark in forklift development. It was an absolute necessity for companies to load wartime goods as quickly and efficiently as possible onto loading docks to be shipped overseas. From this necessity, engineers added hydraulic technology, pallet lifts, and side movements.

Shaping History

Once the wars ended, the necessity, value and utility of the forklift was unquestionable. It was an irreplaceable piece of workplace technology, but companies were still looking for ways to improve. In the 1950s, manufacturing plants decided to focus on getting the most out of their storage facilities, stacking their goods on higher shelves and in tighter spaces. From this desire, reach trucks, lifting up to 2,000 kilograms to a maximum height of 9 meters, were developed. With their investment in industrial inventions like the forklift, western countries like the United Kingdom and the United States shaped history, establishing their leadership in global shipping.

Today, more than 150,000 forklift trucks for sale are purchased each year. World is modern today.