Abstract
Industrial Design in Finland has changed a lot during the past ten years. Ten years ago most of the Finnish industrial designers worked in small or middle-sized design agencies. There was very little specialisation; one office could do everything from toys to trucks. There were very few designers employed directly by the industry. Today the biggest offices have a clear focus and even the design process has become a well-marketed commodity – only in order to make the use of strategic design as easy as possible for the customer. Today many industrial designers are employed as in-house designers in large corporates. My research aims to give a historical overview of the recent development within industrial design in Finland and to point at some of the reasons that have caused this change of specialisation within the professional practice. In order to understand the very recent changes also the birth and development of the professional practice in Finland is considered. There is very little previous research on Finnish industrial designers or the professional practice of industrial design. Most of the Finnish design research has concentrated on either the end product or on design management issues. On an international level there is some research done on designers working in design agencies but recent research on in-house designers is very scarce even on an international level. The importance of industrial design as part of the competitive positioning of a nation has been identified in Finland as in many other countries3. This research can provide one piece to the puzzle of what the actual events are behind this change.
Citation
Valtonen, A. (2004) Specialisation in the Profession of Industrial Design in Finland., in Redmond, J., Durling, D. and de Bono, A (eds.), Futureground - DRS International Conference 2004, 17-21 November, Melbourne, Australia. https://dl.designresearchsociety.org/drs-conference-papers/drs2004/researchpapers/120
Specialisation in the Profession of Industrial Design in Finland.
Industrial Design in Finland has changed a lot during the past ten years. Ten years ago most of the Finnish industrial designers worked in small or middle-sized design agencies. There was very little specialisation; one office could do everything from toys to trucks. There were very few designers employed directly by the industry. Today the biggest offices have a clear focus and even the design process has become a well-marketed commodity – only in order to make the use of strategic design as easy as possible for the customer. Today many industrial designers are employed as in-house designers in large corporates. My research aims to give a historical overview of the recent development within industrial design in Finland and to point at some of the reasons that have caused this change of specialisation within the professional practice. In order to understand the very recent changes also the birth and development of the professional practice in Finland is considered. There is very little previous research on Finnish industrial designers or the professional practice of industrial design. Most of the Finnish design research has concentrated on either the end product or on design management issues. On an international level there is some research done on designers working in design agencies but recent research on in-house designers is very scarce even on an international level. The importance of industrial design as part of the competitive positioning of a nation has been identified in Finland as in many other countries3. This research can provide one piece to the puzzle of what the actual events are behind this change.