Material Selection in Industrial Design Education: A literature review

This study reviews literature on the aspects of material selection within the field of industrial design education, specifically focusing on existing material selection tools and guidelines used in industrial design education. The growing number of materials available today has created a large variety of options for industrial designers, which they are ill-equipped to handle. A key reason behind this is that industrial designers lack appropriate education in material selection. There is a large body of research in the field of mechanical engineering, examining the material selection process of mechanical engineers. There are differences in material selection activities of mechanical engineers and industrial designers, based on their information requirements during different stages of the design process. Recent research highlights a need to merge the perspectives of engineering and industrial design for teaching the subject of material selection in industrial design education at tertiary level. Industrial designers have unique skills to combine technical properties and intangible characteristics of materials in the product development process. Design students need to learn how to act as ambassadors of the intangible material characteristics in material selection processes in interdisciplinary teams. Industrial design needs to reclaim material education when taught in technical faculties and develop its own curriculum. An open-minded dialogue with the engineering colleagues is a prerequisite in developing a curriculum for material courses in design education at a technical faculty. Together designers and engineers need to define a mutual understanding of concepts and contexts to successfully develop a new curriculum. This paper suggests an approach that prepare the students to work both on inspirational and analytical levels in material selection processes.