Exactly. Also the term âindustrial designerâ relates more to the back end of the production process - while a product designer works more multidisciplinary and research-oriented in order to establish new concepts and new interactions with products, services and systems. The title product designer nowadays is even used for digital media developers in some companies. In the Netherlands âproduct designerâ is related to a lower education level than âindustrial designerâ and more related to engineering, though in professional life âproduct designerâ is a more encompassing term.
Lately Iâve flipped back to using Industrial Design because I consider not only designing the products and experiences, but taking a macro approach to shaping the industry Iâm working in 
⌠but n the end it doesnât matter. What you say you do is irrelevant compared to showing what you actually have done.
^^^ This is so true. Any virtual or digital thing is now called a âproductâ too. If you filter âproduct designâ on indeed youâre going to get a HUGE range of non-ID stuff. =)
Another designerâs take on the difference between industrial design and product design.
Why is this a thing?
I honestly donât know, but apparently people get confused. Some people like to make life a harder than it is.
I completely disagree with this definition.
And I do think it is really important and it does matter what the difference is because searching for âProduct Designâ for jobs or articles or papers now is an absolute nightmare due to app/web developers jacking the name.
In the UK one University has a BSc Product Design and a BA Industrial Design and Technology. In the opinion of basically everyone but them they have these the wrong way round! Industrial Design is more science and engineering than degrees like Product Design which are more related to human factors (emotion, psychology, desires, aesthetics, etc, etc).
I think it would be easier to drop the Product Design usage for us due to its hijacking, as sad as that is.
To confuse things more, things are different in the UK (understatement of the century I know). Industrial design in the UK tends to be more of a highbred between ID and ME. In the US programs range from being more conceptual to being more human centered to being more aligned with ME (thought not as much as what I have seen from the UK programs) and all of them tend to be called ID.
More confusing still, some Res call themselves product designers⌠we should probably just scrap English and start over
I have been following this thread for awhile. Currently I use Product Designer even though my degree says Industrial Designer. I do this for a pretty lame reason. Basically when I graduate I would say I was a Industrial Designer and then get the immediate question so you do factory HVAC. So this became to long of a conversation for me to explain that is nothing like what I do. I found Product Designer was easier for people to understand and lead the conversation to a point that was more manageable. Not really a deeper meaning point but this is why I choose to stay with Product Designer even though at the company I work for they call me a Category Designer. Which is accurate for what I am doing for them. But I still refer to myself as a Product Designer outside of work.
The same goes for me. If you work solely for mass-manufacturing the term industrial designer is appropriate. But today we are doing digital media, brands, 3D printing etc. so âproduct designerâ is more fitting for many designers. I also think we have to distinguish between people who do interactive applications (interactive design) and physical products (product design).
Difference is how the are been manufactured.
I wanted to comment on this thread as it is pinned and now very outdated. The term âproduct designerâ is no longer used for Industrial designers, in the majority of cases. Now most âproduct designersâ actually design digital products, just do a search for jobs with product designer in the keywords and you will run into 99% UX type positions. This has been happening for the past few years as UX has exploded in demand, and now I wouldnt say product designer as a term applies to ID for the most part (at least in North America). Of course there are exceptions, but thatâs what they are, exceptions.
With digital fabrication technologies, industrial designers are venturing into 3D printed end products. Designs becoming increasingly data-driven, new skills emerge for the industrial designer such as generative design, AI and product customisation. Because of the complexity of these products, more and more multi-disciplinary work is done at the front end of the product creation process. Maybe if product designer is not a good term for these designers, we have to make a distinction just as the software industry does with something like âFront End Industrial Designerâ or even âPrototype Designerâ.
Itâs funny, I was at a get together and someone said âoh you have to meet so and so, she is a product designer.â ⌠so we got to talking and I asked where she worked. It was for a financial services company and I said âoh they have a product design group there?â ⌠to which she said âwe arenât real product designers, we just design their appâ⌠it was an isolated instance. Over the past 15 years the titles have shifted in digital design from UX (oh wait, literally everything has UX) to IxD (same problem) to Product Design⌠maybe in 5 years they will be using something else.
Bottom line, what you call yourself matters little compared to what you can do. That defines you much more. Personally, at this point, I just say designer and if people want to know more they will ask.
Same here.
I agree, but screw those wannabe two dimensional trilobites. We had it first. Products are not just apps. They are basically just trying to be cool like us but they canât even understand 3 dimensions.
Pro = forward, Ducere = to lead, so by its name it is an innovation. I feel they should be called UI/UX or Digital Designers which is a cool title in itself. Otherwise they can have Produce Designer. 3D model designers also donât call themselves Product Designers but 3D (Content) Designers - they are aware their work remains in the virtual realm for the most part.
Yeah, I donât think you know what youâre talking about.
What am I??
I âdesignâ center consoles for cars.
I work with the studio to flesh out their concept, to industrialise it. I have to engineer the structure that holds it all together, integrate it into the vehicle, make sure it meets all the requirements (Quality of feel, impact, HMI⌠its a long list) I have to ensure its toolable, manufacturable, assemblable (not even a word), serviceable (lots of ables)
Its a bit of a rant, because in one meeting, I introduced myself as Cockpit Design Engineer, and someone in the studio said âno you arenât, we are Design, you are just engineeringâ
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