Industrial Design

Overview

Key facts

The Department of Industrial Design is one of the top professional programs in this discipline in the country. The Department of Industrial Design faculty have joined NC State University from prestigious institutions around the world, each bringing years of experience in design, research, innovation, and education. It also offers a Bachelor of Industrial Design at North Carolina State University.

Students learn and practice design in a studio environment similar to professional design offices. Students methodically study peoples’ physical and cognitive experiences during their interaction with artifacts and services in order to discover user insights and create innovative solutions.

During the design process, students are expected to creatively and critically contemplate the broader impact of their works on society and the world in addition to business and organizational implications. The dynamic and sophisticated balances between form and function and innovation and practicality are constantly debated and articulated throughout the students’ journey to better design. The department is proud of the decades of excellence in design practice and design thinking promulgated by its graduates. Their work informs, persuades and delights.

Industrial designers are concerned with the human experiences of products or services and their impact on business, society, and the environment. Working on consumer and industrial products/services, industrial designers define the total user experience from human factors, ergonomics, safety, aesthetics, materials, maintenance, to packaging and their production process, sustainability, marketability, and cost.

Thus, industrial designers must be involved in four major design and research activities:

• human behavior and experience
• the human-product interaction
• the environment
• the product itself. 

Industries that NC State’s industrial design graduates enter includeconsumer electronic/communication products, furniture, housewares, appliances, transportation, tools, industrial equipment, medical instruments/ devices, human interface, system/service design, retail environment design, packing design, exhibit design, soft goods, entertainment, and recreational/sports products.