Fourteenth International Conference on Design Principles & Practices

Abstract

With the global developments in the fields of innovation and technology, the industrial design profession is continuously expanding its definition. By not only creating or enhancing products but also services, and systems; industrial design operates in mostly manufacturing related industries such as; furniture, white goods, and electronic appliances. Today, the profession’s continuously increasing importance and place in the market attract the attention of these companies. Because manufacturing companies are mainly engineer-oriented, various variables emerge in the adaptation of industrial designers to the professional environment. Thus, differences appear in the professional culture of industrial designers which acquired in the undergraduate education. This situation shapes the definition and culture of the profession. In the literature, there are many sources on the descriptions and the cultures of many professions. However, there is a gap in the literature about the professional culture of the industrial design profession. This paper explores the relation between the professional culture of industrial designers and their experiences in professional life. It reveals industrial designers’ adaptation to professional life, their interactions with other professions, and organizational cultures of manufacturing companies that industrial designers work in. In the field study, data were collected through 15 semi-structured interviews with industrial designers who were working in large scale manufacturing companies. After a qualitative approached data analysis, concerning the professional culture of industrial designers, the paper reveals three main conclusions regarding the importance of being a community, the importance of having flexibility in space and time, and definition of industrial design profession.