National High School for Plastic Arts and Design

Profession of a Designer A designer is a specialist who designs.

At the first congress of ICSID (International Council of Societies of Industrial Design), held in September of 1959 in Stockholm the first internationally accepted definition of industrial design was formulated as: „An industrial designer is one who is qualified by training, technical knowledge, experience and visual sensibility to determine the materials, mechanisms, shape, colour, surface finishes and decoration of objects which are reproduced in quantity by industrial processes. The industrial designer may, at different times, be concerned with all or only some of these aspects of an industrially produced object. The industrial designer may also be concerned with the problems of packaging, advertising, exhibiting and marketing when the resolution of such problems requires visual appreciation in addition to technical knowledge and experience.” At the 7th congress of ICSID in September of 1969 the third definition of industrial design proposed by Tomas Maldonado was accepted: „Design is a creative activity whose aim is the forming of harmonic object environment which best satisfies both material and spiritual human needs. This aim is achieved by determination of the formal qualities of objects produced by industry. These formal qualities on one hand are not only the external features but are principally those structural relationships which give the system the necessary functional and constructional unity which on the other hand exist increasing the effectiveness of the production.” Designer’s work to a definite project starts with receiving an assignment, which sets definite parameters to the project, dictated by technical, marketing or other spheres. According to their specialization, designers work with:

• Graphic design /Advertising design or Computer design/ is the one that works with the means of visual communication. Graphic designers have realization in advertisement, polygraphy and typography.

• 3D design is similar in meaning to the Graphic design, but it concerns the creation of images, having three dimensions. It’s directly connected with computer graphics and animation.

• Spatial design is the one which refers to the layout of interior and exterior spaces. Spatial designers are likely to be used in advertisement, fair and exhibition, scenography and furniture production.

• Fashion design – also known as Textile design. Fashion designers are obviously needed in fashion and wear production.

• Industrial design – also known as Product or Engineering design. It’s related with the projection of products of industry – from airplanes and automobiles to furniture and household items.

• Web design – development and layout of internet pages. This specialty is closely related with computer programming and graphic design.

Design is everywhere: in a toothbrush, water supply tap and even in a cup of tea or in a pair of comfortable sneakers, shoulder bags and favourite jeans, a street sign, sidewalk bench and food utensils as well… Most people use daily hundreds of objects, projected by designers. Designers will continue from now on proving how real the influence of design upon human lives is. Design is like a game, which provokes our curiosity!