Author: Prof. Dr. Peter Zec  | 2016-08-15

"Solidarity" is the most appropriate word to describe the International Umbrella Organization of Industrial Design (ICSID).The abbreviation ICSID also stands for the International Council of Societies of Industrial Design, which subsequently changed its name to the World Design Organization. Since its inception, the ICSID guidelines have led designers around the world to demonstrate solidarity in the face of problems, challenges and common goals, as well as bring new and superior designs to everyday life in an industrialized society.

Inevitably, this phenomenon means that the commercial factor of industrial design is no longer the focus of attention, but the social and cultural aspects. The goal is to bring a fresh perspective in a fast-paced world of social, cultural and economic development.

Design community reached an agreement that design is no longer just about making rich and famous charismatic adornments, but designing stuffs for the people all over the world in the real daily life. They are trying to find the design to increase profits for international enterprises, which results in raised life quality under the influence of globalization. What is the significance of this phenomenon? It can promote the understanding of design for the emerging industrial countries. Design is concerning more about commodities of good quality, including finding personnel who are able to make goods that are globally competitive. The execution of design used to be a purely product-focused activity, without the consideration of sociocultural responsibilities. 

In the past, this phenomenon reduced the value of design activities and turned the design into a pure external form and decoration. In the undisguised pursuit of profit, there was neither purpose or meaning nor moral conscience in the design. This is exactly why some companies can copy products without hesitation. This practice of blindly copying cannot last .What is really important is to reflect on the relevance of design activities to society and culture in order to deepen this relatively shallow and single-faceted understanding of design activities. To do this, the priority is to  change the schedule of design course, because if the students of design colleges use only a textbook with limited design models,rather than view the actual situation that they encounter in their daily lives as a design challenge, they cannot possibly change the society. Designers and design students from around the world will need the support of colleagues from the global design community and the spirit of solidarity to drive this change.

※ This article is published on the design column of "uDesign "