IV.

Methods

Every design problem requires special procedures, timing, and techniques, but there is a general routine applicable to all. After the industrial designer is informed of the needs of the client—including data on the intended market for the product, budget allocation, and company policy and equipment—specialists associated with the designer conduct a study of competitive products and an extensive field survey of the manufacturer's plant. A design program is planned, and preliminary designs of the proposed product are then sketched on the basis of the available plant facilities. Rough sketches are chosen for further refinement and study, and the client is then presented with design studies, often in the form of a small model or of a mock-up. Following the selection of the approved design, working drawings indicating the choice of materials and the specifications for finishing and assembly are prepared. A handmade working model is then manufactured and submitted to the client for approval. In the case of an automobile, for example, one or several are handmade and tested at proving grounds before final machine dies are ordered and production begins.

The industrial designer is essentially the creator of a pattern to guide the operations of skilled persons or machines. The development of industrial design led to the creation of new procedures, such as the method of encasing a product to be redesigned in soft modeling clay, in order that the modifications in the design may be molded directly from the old products. Another industrial-design method is based on the fact that small models do not reflect accurately the design characteristics of the full-scale product. Distortion often occurs in magnification as a result of highlights and shadows that change basic spatial relationships. To view the design in full scale, the profession employs a photographic system in which a small drawing is projected to full scale on a section of a wall. Revisions of the design are then made directly on the wall projection by the industrial designers.