What Is Product Design?

by Laura Slack

This unrivalled handbook is a guide to the world of industrial design, exploring what constitutes successful design, how it works, and how product design creates a market for itself. It explores the multifarious role of product designers, as new technology and materials present new possibilities for both form and function. What is Product Design? looks at issues of longevity and life cycles, multifunctionalism, concept generation and product development, prototyping, naming, and product placement. What is Product Design? is not just an in-depth exploration of successful design, it is also a stunning, diverse portfolio of cutting-edge work from designers and studios throughout the globe, showcasing world-beating design that exceeds the brief, and demands attention. Like the other titles in the Essential Design Handbooks series, this will be necessary reading for all professional graphic designers and students.

Genres: Design

255 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 2006

Reviews

[Arti · Rating 3 out of 5]

The second half of the book uses portfolios from contemporary designers and design studios to illustrate different approaches to product design and bring out interesting influences, technology, materials, balance between form and function... it makes for an interesting study of trends and provides an insight into the design of home products seen in lifestyle stores...

The first half is an attempt to bring out the multi-dimensional scope of product design... it lists down the facets it encompasses from basic elements like concept development, prototyping, naming, distribution to more advanced issues like multi-functionalism, fun and emotional ergonomics, longevity, morality, reuse, recycle etc... while it introduces the reader to the breadth of the subject and the multi-disciplinary influences in the product life cycle, it fails to capture any actionable insights or guide the reader on how to mange the challenges on the journey of creating a successful design...

I guess it ends up being a casual read and a visual exploration into some interesting portfolios and leaves it to the reader to derive his own learnings from observation and identification with personal style and design objectives.

[Supertramp · Rating 4 out of 5]

#172

It has a lovely designing models/prototypes. Some of them are really really beautiful.

[Evgenia Pradel · Rating 2 out of 5]

nothing extraordinary. for beginners or those who wants to study product design

[Eg · Rating 5 out of 5]

this is an amazing book for starting step to Industrial Design

[Yunar]

because i want to read it

[Amir · Rating 4 out of 5]

By reading this book, I become familiar with many diffent designs.