IDSA Professional Organisation of American Industrial Designers

In: Decorative & Applied Arts, Design Associations & Organisations, Industrial Design
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The Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA) is the leading professional organization of American industrial designers. The Industrial Designers Institute (IDI), established in 1951 as a successor to the American Designers Institute (ADI), and the Society of Industrial Designers (SID), established in 1944 by Henry Dreyfuss, Raymond Loewy, and Walter Dorwin Teague, three influential members of the industrial design profession, came together to form IDSA. The SID changed its name to the American Society of Industrial Designers in 1955. (ASID). The Industrial Designers Education Association (IDEA), established in 1957, was merged in 1965.

More than 2,000 people currently belong to the organisation, divided into eleven regional chapters. Through public relations initiatives, publications, and promoting exhibits of industrial designers’ work, the IDSA works to establish standards of professional practice and ethics, advance quality design education, and promote awareness of professional design. The group keeps a national office in Great Falls, Virginia, and opened a prototype design centre with a gallery for ongoing exhibits to help Americans become more aware of design.

Awards

An essential component of IDSA’s work is showcasing the outstanding work of the design community. One of the main ways they do this is by recognising designers for their individual and collective contributions to industrial design through their extensive portfolio of awards programmes. This mission is an essential first step in creating a venue that raises public awareness of design and strengthens the link between design and business.

  • The International Design Excellence Awards (IDEA) is a worldwide competition celebrating the best in design excellence for design professionals and students.  
  • The IDSA Student Merit Awards (SMA) highlight the very best creativity, problem solving, and design brilliance in each of IDSA’s five North American Districts.  
  • IDSA Awards are a collection of awards presented in recognition of significant contribution to the Society or the industrial design profession, excellence in academic advancement, and personal achievement.  

Advocacy

As a unified and dependable resource for the industry, IDSA defends industrial design’s place in a crowded field and strengthens the voice of industrial designers in the business world and society at large. Although this is an ongoing effort, some of the ways they succeed in it are as follows:

  • Design Foundation, is a 501c(3) charitable organization founded by IDSA in 2001 to expand our outreach and educational efforts. 
  • Undergraduate & Graduate Scholarships, are presented annually to deserving students in support of their pursuit of an industrial design degree. 
  • National Industrial Design Day, celebrated annually, was established on March 5, 2015, and entered into the U.S. Congressional Record by U.S. Rep. Gerald E. Connolly. 
  • IDSA partners with the CBS television series “America by Design.” As an industry partner, IDSA works to position IDSA members and IDEA-winning products on the show to be broadcast into homes across the United States.  
  • IDSA is a long-standing and active member of the World Design Organization

Sources

โ€œAbout IDSA | Industrial Designers Society of America – IDSA.โ€ Industrial Designers Society of America – IDSA, http://www.idsa.org, https://www.idsa.org/about-idsa. Accessed 11 Aug. 2022.

Byars, M., & Riley, T. (2004). The design encyclopedia. Laurence King Publishing. https://amzn.to/3ElmSlL

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