Leading up to their 50th anniversary year in 2015, the Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA) has been busy revamping their organization to make it more useful for its community of 3,200+ industrial designers.
The nonprofit, which is funded by its members, was founded in 1965 and is one of the oldest and largest membership organizations for industrial design professionals. In addition to hosting an annual conference and smaller chapter-specific events throughout the year, the organization is also the publisher of INNOVATION magazine and a lead sponsor of the International Design Excellence Awards (IDEA).
With the goal of advancing the profession of industrial design and design disciplines attached to the development of products, the organization is also a large resource for both students and existing professionals seeking connections and information to advance their careers in the field of product design.
In an effort to make their functionality as a resource more valuable to their members, the IDSA launched a new website on Monday that reflects the design ethos that industrial designers have come to expect in their digital experiences.
“As the leading voice of the industrial design profession, it is critical that our website reflects the quality, beauty and functionality our members expect,” IDSA Chair Austen Angell told SolidSmack.
“We needed a website that would be viewed as the ‘go-to’ source for our members and the industrial design community at large. We’re excited and confident that the new IDSA.org will accomplish this.”
In addition to a more slick and responsive UI, the site also features a full digital archive of their INNOVATION magazine for researching past articles, a similar archive for IDEA award winners, a blog that highlights member-related news and events and perhaps most importantly, a clear explanation of what industrial design is for prospective students…including a What is Industrial Design? section that breaks down the product design process into 32 explanatory steps for curious minds.
“This year, IDSA has seen record conference attendance, as well as tremendous membership and financial growth,” Angell added. “The launch of the new IDSA.org is the perfect cap to this tremendous year and is a great prelude to our 50th anniversary year in 2015.”
Check it out over at IDSA.org.
