III.

Applications

Industrial design has applications not only in consumer products but in interior building space, packaging, and transportation.

A.

Product Design

Today industrial design has been applied to practically all consumer products, notably to home appliances, such as air conditioners, irons, and washing machines; office equipment, such as typewriters, dictaphones, and duplicating machines; electronic communications equipment, such as radios, television sets, phonographs, and tape recorders; bathroom and lighting fixtures; furniture; hardware and tableware; automobiles; and photographic equipment. Industrial design is applied also to products involved in distribution, such as trucks and automatic vending machines, and to industrial materials and equipment.

The industrial designer must be concerned not only with product design but with the conditions under which products are sold. In planning retail stores and display areas, for example, the industrial designer works with the architect to increase the revenue-producing interior space and to create arrangements and atmosphere conducive to sales. Industrial designers also work to facilitate the profitable operation of railroad stations, airports, hotels, shopping centers, exhibitions, restaurants, public auditoriums, television stations, and offices.

B.

Packaging

The fundamental problem of design in packaging is to provide all the essential information, such as the instructions for use of the product and the legally required identification of its contents, while fulfilling the broader purpose of selling the product. Because of the current trend toward self-service in merchandising, the importance of packaging increases constantly.

C.

Transportation

Industrial design has made valuable contributions in the field of transportation. Only the largest industrial-design offices are equipped to design the interior of ocean liners, aircraft, trains, buses, and other public vehicles. The exterior and dynamic characteristics of these highly complex mechanisms impose strict interior design limitations. In jet airliners, for example, interior space must be maximally utilized to increase the payload without sacrificing the comfort of the passengers. In ocean liners space and weight factors are not so crucial. To compete with other forms of transportation, present-day ocean liners are designed to offer service and luxury features not feasible in aircraft, trains, or buses.