国际工业设计协会联合会自1957年成立以来，加强了各国工业设计专家的交流，并组织研究人员给工业设计下过两次定义。①1970年国际工业设计协会ICSID(International Council of Societies of Industrial Design) 为工业设计下了一个定义:“工业设计,是一种根据产业状况以决定制作物品之适应特质的创造活动。适应物品特质, 不单指物品的结构, 而是兼顾使用者和生产者双方的观点, 使抽象的概念系统化, 完成统一而具体化的物品形象, 意即著眼于根本的结构与机能间的相互关系, 其根据工业生产的条件扩大了人类环境的局面。” ②1980年，国际工业设计协会理事会（ICSID）给工业设计又作了如下的定义：“就批量生产的工业产品而言，凭借训练、技术知识、经验及视觉感受，而赋予材料、结构、构造、形态、色彩、表面加工、装饰以新的品质和规格，叫做工业设计。根据当时的具体情况，工业设计师应当在上述工业产品全部侧面或其中几个方面进行工作，而且，当需要工业设计师对包装、宣传、展示、市场开发等问题的解决付出自己的技术知识和经验以及视觉评价能力时，这也属于工业设计的范畴。”
事实并非如此。
1959年9月，在瑞典的斯德哥尔摩（Stockholm Sweden）召开了第一届ICSID的会议，这次会议在ICSID的历史上举足轻重，原话：The Congress was the first of what would become the largest world event in Icsid’s calendar – one that still continues to this day. 在这次会议上形成了ICSID对Industrial Design的第一次定义，如下：
An industrial designer is one who is qualified by training, technical knowledge, experience and visual sensibility to determine the materials, mechanisms, shape, colour, surface finishes and decoration of objects which are reproduced in quantity by industrial processes. The industrial designer may, at different times, be concerned with all or only some of these aspects of an industrially produced object.
The industrial designer may also be concerned with the problems of packaging, advertising, exhibiting and marketing when the resolution of such problems requires visual appreciation in addition to technical knowledge and experience.
The designer for craft based industries or trades, where hand processes are used for production, is deemed to be an industrial designer when the works which are produced to his drawings or models are of a commercial nature, are made in batches or otherwise in quantity, and are not personal works of the artist craftsman. （转自http://www.icsid.org/about/about/articles33.htm）
到了1960年代，ICSID对Industrial Design有了如下定义：
The function of an industrial designer is to give such form to objects and services that they render the conduct of human life efficient and satisfying. The sphere of activity of an industrial designer at the present embraces practically every type of human artefact, especially those that are mass produced and mechanically actuated.（转自http://www.icsid.org/about/about/articles33.htm）
Industrial design is a creative activity whose aims is to determine the formal qualities of objects produced by industry. These formal qualities are not only the external features but are principally those structural and functional relationships which convert a system to a coherent unity both from the point of view of the producer and the user. Industrial design extends to embrace all the aspects of human environment, which are conditioned by industrial production.（转自http://www.icsid.org/about/about/articles33.htm）
这才有了广泛流传的所谓“1970年国际工业设计协会ICSID(International Council of Societies of Industrial Design) 为工业设计下了一个定义: “工业设计,是一种根据产业状况以决定制作物品之适应特质的创造活动。适应物品特质, 不单指物品的结构, 而是兼顾使用者和生产者双方的观点, 使抽象的概念系统化, 完成统一而具体化的物品形象, 意即著眼于根本的结构与机能间的相互关系, 其根据工业生产的条件扩大了人类环境的局面。”。
Design is a creative activity whose aim is to establish the multi-faceted qualities of objects, processes, services and their systems in whole life cycles. Therefore, design is the central factor of innovative humanisation of technologies and the crucial factor of cultural and economic exchange.
TASK
Design seeks to discover and assess structural, organisational, functional, expressive and economic relationships, with the task of:
Enhancing global sustainability and environmental protection (global ethics)
Giving benefits and freedom to the entire human community, individual and collective
Final users, producers and market protagonists (social ethics)
Supporting cultural diversity despite the globalisation of the world (cultural ethics)
Giving products, services and systems, those forms that are expressive of (semiology) and coherent with (aesthetics) their proper complexity。
Design concerns products, services and systems conceived with tools, organisations and logic introduced by industrialisation - not just when produced by serial processes. The adjective "industrial" put to design must be related to the term industry or in its meaning of sector of production or in its ancient meaning of "industrious activity". Thus, design is an activity involving a wide spectrum of professions in which products, services, graphics, interiors and architecture all take part. Together, these activities should further enhance - in a choral way with other related professions - the value of life.
Therefore, the term designer refers to an individual who practices an intellectual profession, and not simply a trade or a service for enterprises.（转自http://www.icsid.org/about/about/articles31.htm）
2）IDSA：ID Defined
Industrial design (ID)is the professional service of creating and developing concepts and specifications that optimize the function, value and appearance of products and systems for the mutual benefit of both user and manufacturer.
Industrial designers develop these concepts and specifications through collection, analysis and synthesis of data guided by the special requirements of the client or manufacturer. They are trained to prepare clear and concise recommendations through drawings, models and verbal descriptions.
Industrial design services are often provided within the context of cooperative working relationships with other members of a development group. Typical groups include management, marketing, engineering and manufacturing specialists. The industrial designer expresses concepts that embody all relevant design criteria determined by the group.
The industrial designer’s unique 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 maintain a practical concern for technical processes and requirements for manufacture; marketing opportunities and economic constraints; and distribution sales and servicing processes. They work to ensure that design recommendations use materials and technology effectively, and comply with all legal and regulatory requirements.
In addition to supplying concepts for products and systems, industrial designers are often retained for consultation on a variety of problems that have to do with a client’s image. Such assignments include product and organization identity systems, development of communication systems, interior space planning and exhibit design, advertising devices and packaging and other related services. Their expertise is sought in a wide variety of administrative arenas to assist in developing industrial standards, regulatory guidelines and quality control procedures to improve manufacturing operations and products.
Industrial designers, as professionals, are guided by their awareness of obligations to fulfill contractual responsibilities to clients, to protect the public safety and well-being, to respect the environment and to observe ethical business practice.
"If I could compare the process of design to publishing a novel, design would be the story and language which could not stand alone without pages, print or binding to make it whole and useable. Danielle Steele, Defoe or Descartes . . . your choice."
——Darrel. Staley, FIDSA, Manager of Corporate Industrial Design, Ampex Corp.
"Industrial design is the process of developing an elegant and functional improvement to the physical interface between man and machine-made products."
——Robert Glenn Smith, FIDSA.
"Design thinking is what separates humans from animals! Designers are trained to make things work and look better. They team with manufacturers, marketers, advertisers and end-users toturn unspoken desires into consumer demand with a rare blend of beauty and utility that improve our lives."
——Tucker Viemeister, IDSA, Vice President of Smart Design.
"The process of designing products is a multi-faceted balancing act. It requires a synthesis of disciplines and a reconciliation of constraints. This requires creative pragmatism. The end result is a completed product that looks great, operates as the user wants and expects and is manufactured for the right price."
——Malcolm S. Smith, IDSA, Vice President of Palo Alto
"Designers are not highly paid cake decorators. They are gurus of cross-functional problem solving. Great design solutions are a seamless blend of technical, financial, emotional and brand naming issues. Industrial designers can marry the disparate points of view that effect a product’s performance in the marketplace and create solutions to exceed expectations -- corporate and consumer."
——Spencer Murrell, Vice President, Fitch Inc.
"The design process, at its best, integrates the aspirations of art, science and culture."
——Jeff Smith, IDSA, President of Lunar Design
