Celebrating National Industrial Designers Day & Why You Should Be A Design Ally

In 2015, when March 5th was entered into the US Congressional record as National Industrial Design Day, it was declared that industrial designers “improve our lives in every way and are worthy of our recognition,” and “The economic impact of this industry helps fuel our nation’s economy.” On this National Industrial Designers Day, I’d like to take you on a personal reflection of my two decades-long journey through ID, because I believe that our work as industrial designers goes beyond that, using the power of design to help make communities stronger and more equitable, and our systems more sustainable. 

My journey to a career in industrial design began by accident in college, on the day I walked into the wrong classroom, which happened to be the industrial design studio. The colorful ideation sketches, marker renderings on vellum paper pinned onto walls, messy and crude foam models scattered alongside the previously taken apart products on the drafting tables were all artifacts of a craft that I fell in love with at that moment.

ID is a professional degree, which takes design students deep into learning how to read and analyze the world, and synthesize those observations and transform those insights into useful products that meet a need. As a design student, I learned the arts of design research and co-design through projects that partnered us with real-life clients in global industries.

My graduation thesis was a system of transitional shelters for war refugees called The Tree of Life. This was not a single product, but a system that gave people the autonomy to build their own structures, assembled from whatever was at hand to provide shelter, water, and power, and adapted to the needs of each user. 

What excited me most then about industrial design has not changed: it is the beautifully messy ideation process that connects thinking and doing by brainstorming, sketching, and prototyping.

I spent a good deal of my early career behind the scenes designing housewares, toys, and furniture to be sold at retailers. When I became a design director, my work took me overseas to manufacturing plants, overseeing the production of the actual products that I had been designing, and troubleshooting alongside the workers who made them. It was during those long factory visits that I also witnessed the direct impacts of my designs on those who built them, and on the environment where they were produced. I realized that as a designer, I had the responsibility and opportunity to create better solutions, and stop being a part of the problem. 

Re-aligning my work with my values, and tapping into my design super powers, I strategically shifted to designing systems, frameworks, and organizations. This change has led to some of the most meaningful collaborations of my career. 

By co-designing a curriculum and educational tools with teachers, students, and parents, the school I founded in Berkeley became an inclusive cultural center with strong civic engagement.

By partnering with local community activists and gardeners, I co-designed community workshops to build one of the first urban permaculture community gardens in Turkey.

By re-focusing the traditional Industrial Design curriculum toward social justice, cross-departmental collaboration, and environmental sustainability, the future industrial designers I teach today create amazing projects designed for circularity and equity.

By curating and moderating the Design Voices programs for IDSA, where design experts present and discuss issues ranging from designing our democracy to perspectives on race, I am able to amplify these voices to show how designers are integral to solving our most complex problems.

These are only some examples of what my profession can deliver in the real world, because if there is one commonality among industrial designers, it is that we are a group of optimists and doers. There has never been a better time to be an ally for Industrial Design. Partner with us to tap into our superpowers, whether you are a decision maker in government, an entrepreneur in the private sector, or a leader of a community organization. 

Happy National Industrial Design Day To All of Us!