Learning About Industrial Design

Curious about what Industrial Design is?

My daughter has a habit of collecting bottles. These are not antique bottles but drinks that she sees at the supermarket. She will ask to purchase these beverages, asking me if I would be willing to consume it. She just wants the bottle. Sometimes she does this when we are on vacation and she will bring the empty bottle back.

She also loves flatware. We visit her favorite set at Crate and Barrel. She actually loves nearly everything in the store, from the glasses to the plates.

When she can’t slide open the box of a new package because it’s too tight, she fumes. That’s a miscalculation on the part of the industrial designer.

I told her that she’s an industrial designer because that is what an industrial designer does. She’s always thought of industrial designers as people who design small home appliances like vacuums or blenders because she happens to know two designers at Shark Ninja who do that very thing.

But not every industrial designer has a background in mechanical engineering. And industrial design is all around us. Every single thing in a supermarket or store has been touched by an industrial designer.

When we visited MassArt, the student tour guide gave a very good description of Industrial Design at MassArt. MassArt defines Industrial Art as problem-solving in this video by an admissions officer describing the major.

My daughter may never end up designing bottles or flatware because she’s heading in another direction at art school, but she will always have an appreciation for industrial designers. And her bottle collection keeps growing. God help us when she gets her first apartment. It will be like a bridal registry because of her wish list of Crate and Barrel “longed from afar” housewares.

p.s. For the sneakerheads in your life, here’s the perfect book of sneaker art and design!

Art & Sole: Contemporary Sneaker Art & Design by Intercity

A coffee table book for anyone who loves sneakers!

p.s.s. Here’s a picture book that conveys what industrial design is all about.

How to Make a Bird by Meg McKinlay, illustrated by Matt Ottley

To examine any book more closely at Amazon, please click on image of book.

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MassArt College Visit

Xtreme Week at Mass College of Art

Applying to Art School: Portfolio

My books:

Amazon / Signed or Inscribed by Me

Fortune Cookies for Everyone! (Smithsonian): The Surprising Story of the Tasty Treat We Love to Eat

California Eureka Non-Fiction Gold Award
Junior Library Guild Gold Selection

Amazon / Signed or Inscribed by Me

Barbed Wire Between Us by Mia Wenjen, illustrated by Violeta Encarnación

⭐ Starred review from Kirkus Reviews!

Amazon / Signed or Inscribed by Me

The Traveling Taco: The Amazing and Surprising Journey of Many of Your Favorite Foods

California Eureka Non-Fiction Silver Award
Reading Rockets’ Summer Reading Guide 2025

Amazon / Signed or Inscribed by Me

We Sing from the Heart: How the Slants® Took Their Fight for Free Speech to the Supreme Court

ALSC Notable Children’s Book
2025 Carter G. Woodson Book Award Middle Level Honoree
Orbis Pictus Recommended Book for Outstanding Nonfiction for Children
2024 Julia Ward Howe Prize for Children’s Literature Winner
California Eureka Non-Fiction Award Honor Book
Notable Social Studies Trade Books for Young People Winner (from National Council for the Social Studies and Children’s Book Council)
Bank Street Best Children’s Books of the Year 2025
Recommended Reading for the Social Justice Literature Award 2025 (International Literacy Association)
Junior Library Guild Gold Selection