Industrial design is concerned with all human aspects of machine-made products and their relationship to the environment. The industrial designer is responsible for human factors engineering, safety, shape, color, texture, maintenance, and cost. Industrial designers deal with consumer, as well as industrial, products. In order to achieve these ends, designers must be involved in four major design and research areas: human behavior, human-machine relationships, the environment, and the product itself. Furniture manufacturing, apparel technology, and textile technology are minors offered through collaborations with the Industrial Engineering Furniture Manufacturing and Management Center and the College of Textiles, respectively.
Areas of design investigation in the Bachelor of Industrial Design include furniture, housewares, appliances, transportation, tools, farm equipment, medical instruments, electronics, human-computer interfaces, and recreational support equipment.
Graduates of the Bachelor of Industrial Design program have career opportunities in three general types of practice: corporate design offices in manufacturing companies, independent consulting offices, and governmental agencies.