By Banks C. Talley III, IDSA

            On a recent trip to San Francisco, my wife and I met an animator from Pixar Studios through mutual friends. As we sat down for a Vietnamese meal at a local eatery, I was struck almost immediately by the simple fact that Matt and his wife didn’t give me the usual quizzical look that I get when I tell people what I do to earn a living. “You’re an Assistant Professor of what? Industrial Design? What is that exactly? Do you design factories and other industrial complexes? It’s like engineering right? So, where did you go to school for your engineering degree? Gee Banks, that’s really fascinating!” At this point, the conversation usually turns to some other topic or to some other individual at the table (who majored in something much less confusing like business, math, communications, psychology, etc.) and I am left verbally fumbling around; trying in vain to better explain my chosen profession. Well, Matt and his wife didn’t think that my profession or I were strange at all. “My sister is an Industrial Design major at RISD!” came the reply when I described my current job. We then launched into a long rambling conversation about IPods, Nokia cell phones, Adobe Photoshop, 3D Studio Max, the Volkswagen Bug versus the PT Cruiser, Marcel Wanders, Philippe Starck and Eileen Gray’s furniture. It was truly a dream conversation for a “dyed-in-the-wool” ID geek. It was also quite refreshing compared to the responses I normally get in my home state of North Carolina. In my opinion, Industrial Design is suffering from an identity crisis.

 
           My sudden inclusion and recognition as a member of the professional, creative class made me feel good momentarily, but it also caused me to ponder the larger issue at hand with furrowed brow. Why do so many people not know what Industrial Design is in my home state (or in the rest of the country for that matter)? Do they just not care? Are Californians (as it has long been reported) really just hipper and more knowledgeable about design? Are they truly the arbiters of style? Is everyone in my beloved home state actually provincial (me included)? Is design less prevalent in the South? Are Southerners somehow denied privileges and access to good design (unlike our fashion forward neighbors in New York)? Why is it that the Industrial Design program at North Carolina State University (my alma mater) is in its 51st year and yet when I meet someone at the Harris Teeter (a mere two blocks from the NCSU College of Design) I still get the typical quizzical response when asked about my major in college? “Industrial Design? That’s like engineering right? Oh yes, N.C. State has engineering, you must be an engineer.” Do I need to move to another state, preferably one that is more design literate, just to feel comfortable? Why does it bother me that so many people don’t understand what ID is? Lastly, what the heck can I do about it?

 
           Of course, I realize that there are no easy answers to my questions. It seems fair to say that we do take most of the “everyday objects” that make our lives easier for granted, but what of the people who design these objects?  Industrial Designers are now part of a global workforce and if the number of collegiate Industrial Design programs is any indicator, our numbers keep growing. Maybe an answer can be revealed through history.  Perhaps we have become so removed from the Industrial Revolution historically that people have simply forgotten that there was a time when mass production didn’t exist. Conversely, when I tell some people that I teach Product Design they seem to understand exactly what I am talking about. “Oh Product Design, you mean like IPods and cars?” While I always seek to pay my respects to the godfathers, Raymond Loewy and Henry Dreyfuss, maybe it is time to revise our name and embrace the future. In our technologically advanced society, is our name (with its historical reference) holding us back? I want everyone to know who we are, what we do and that we are a force to be reckoned with. I mean, we all own and use copious amounts of products. Should we all be called Product Designers? Does this name encompass all that we actually do? Are we showing a blatant lack of respect for the past by not acknowledging it by name?  These are questions that I will continue to ponder and I will consult my ID colleagues for further answers.

 
This is Part I of a two part article.

     

Banks C. Talley III, IDSA received all of his degrees from North Carolina State University in Raleigh, North Carolina. In 1992, he received his Bachelor of Arts in English/Technical Writing, from 1992-1994 he pursued graduate work in Graphic Design and worked as a freelance graphic designer, in 1996 he received a Bachelor of Environmental Design from the School of Design with a concentration in Industrial Design and Art & Design and in 2002 he received his Master of Industrial Design from the newly renamed College of Design. From 1996-1998, he served as the Lighting Designer at the North Carolina Museum of Art in Raleigh, NC. In 1998, Talley moved to Washington, DC to work for Design & Production, Inc. an exhibit design and fabrication firm based in Lorton, Virginia. From 2000-2001, Talley worked for D/G Washington (formerly Douglas/Gallagher) a private downtown-based and full-service exhibit design firm. In 2002, Talley served as the Director/Program Coordinator of the NCSU College of Design’s Design Camp program. In 2003, Talley served as a Development Associate for the Wake County chapter of Habitat for Humanity. Since 2004, Talley has been an Assistant Professor of Industrial Design at Appalachian State University in Boone, NC