DIY Design potential threat to design field?

IDSA is organizing a conference centered around DIY design with a catchy titles: DIY Design Threat or Opportunity?
Am I the only one thinking that DYI design is the best thing that happened to design field?
Who sees DIY designers as threat? Why?

Look around the DIY fab stores (upload work to be laser cut, 3d printed, etc). IE: iPhone/iPad stands. A good amount of them IMO are poorly designed aesthetically. Yes a lot of technology and methods of manufacturing/production is a lot more easily accessed thanks to the internet. DIY fabrication revolution is not the same as DIY ID

I think they were tryig to make it a probacative cat hy tittle in a good way, but I’m sure they don’t see it as a threat.

I see 3 opportunities.

1 education and appreciation. Many of u have the tool to self publish a book, edit video, produce an album, but few use those tools and those who attempt to probably have a much higher appreciation for what it takes to master them on an expert level.

2 black swan identification. There is an opportunity to unearth that exception to the rule natural talent. That diamond on the ruff.

3 the tools meant for amatures can be used by pros to speed workflow. I know pro video editors who mock things up on iMovie am professional desiners who sell on etsy.com.

DIY, is the best method of self expression.

I see more and more seeking individuality in design. Providing them with the tools to create items that defines themselves is the best thing that’s ever happened.

It’s only a threat if you consider the value of design the making of a homologous materialed “thing”.

DIY (and in my opinion the less talked about 3D Scanning) will make a lot of things better, but it is not going to supplant the professional industrial designer who is trained to focus on other things such as research, human factors, market needs, etc.

It’s a huge opportunity from an entrepreneurship standpoint as well IMO. Just think - the entire invisalign process is effectively leveraging this already (scan a 3D model of your teeth, built a transformation in 3D, and create rapid prototyped parts to align them) and they charge thousands and thousands of dollars for the devices alone, not including the doctors fees.

From discussions with few fellow designers, I am glad that we are all pretty much on the same page. I am just wondering where is IDSA going with this…

Remember when it was “China: Threat or Opportunity”? Glad to see we’re worrying about more important issues.

Because “IDSA: Get drunk and listen to people talk” didn’t sound as good. :laughing:

I got an email from the IDSA yesterday saying to come to the Nat’l conference to hear Grace Bonney speak about DIY. Not knowing who Grace Bonney is, I went to her blog called Design Sponge. Its a nice blog about shopping, color trends, and how to sew and build things for your home or apartment. There was a neat set of illustrated instructions on how to make a bedside table out of an IKEA chair. From what I gather from this, DIY is a new way of saying “I do crafts”, which my mom was doing and selling at bake sales 30 years ago. So rephrase the question: Are “crafts” a threat to industrial design? :laughing:

On the other hand, the growing RP/3D print/upload-and-we’ll-build-it world is very interesting, but I don’t see that supplanting the bulk of what designers do either. Its like there are avenues that are somewhat new and interesting as movements or offshoots - and then there’s the thousands of the rest of us who have to show up at 8AM and do solid modeling.

A side note: Designers may have black turtlenecks, fun eyewear and colorful sneakers; crafts (oops I mean DIY) girls have their own look too: natural, nicely messy hair; fuzzy wool sweater; cat or cats. Design Sponge Online – Get your design fix…