Industrial Designers for Inventors
| "Design is the fundamental soul of a human-made creation that ends up expressing itself in successive outer layers of the product or service."
Steve Jobs |
Industrial design is an applied art whereby the aesthetics and usability of mass-produced products may be improved for marketability and production. The role of an Industrial Designer is to create and execute design solutions towards problems of form, usability, user ergonomics, engineering, marketing, brand development and sales.
Industrial designers are professionals who create and develop concepts and specifications that optimize the function, value and appearance of products for the mutual benefit of both user and manufacturer. They are trained to prepare clear and concise recommendations through drawings, models and descriptions.
Industrial designers collaborate with other members of a development team, typically management, marketing, engineering and manufacturing.
The industrial designer's contribution places emphasis on those aspects of the product or system that relate most directly to human characteristics, needs and interests. This contribution requires specialized understanding of visual, tactile, safety and convenience criteria, with concern for the user. Education and experience in anticipating psychological, physiological and sociological factors that influence and are perceived by the user are essential industrial design resources.
Industrial designers also are knowledgeable in the technical processes and requirements for manufacturing, marketing, distribution and sales. They work to ensure that design recommendations use materials and technology effectively, and comply with all legal and regulatory requirements.
Their expertise is used to assist in developing industrial standards, regulatory guidelines and quality control procedures to improve manufacturing operations and products.
To sum up industrial designers are a very important and needed part of the invention to market process.
For more on this subject see: Wikipedia - Industrial Designers
Where do I begin? (the basics)
What is an industrial designer?
Inventor Organizations and Clubs