Structure of the Design Industry

A structural view of design disciplines

The relationship, interests and economic drivers of design disciplines can be understood by grouping them in accordance with the industries they serve.

Interior design and product development disciplines have well defined relationships with particular sectors. Graphic design and related disciplines have clients in all business sectors.

A sector based view of design disciplines
Built Environment	Manufacturing	Visual Communication
Architect, Interior Designer, Landscape Architect, TV, Film & Theatre Set Designer	Industrial Designer/Product Designer, Textile Designer, Furniture Designer, Fashion Designer, Jewellery Designer, Ceramic Designer, Glass Designer	Graphic Designer, Exhibition Designer/Display Designer, Multimedia Designer, Web Designers, Digital Designer, Digital Game Designer, Digital Animation Designer, Illustrator

Many design disciplines can be considered to be specialisations of the three primary design areas of product development, interior design and graphic design. Indeed in the early stages of the foundation of commercial design services the term industrial design was used to refer to all discipline areas.

Design Disciplines and Resulting Specialisations
Primary Disciplines	Alternate names or terms used in the industry and education at present	Specialisations of the primary disciplines	Other specialisations which use the primary area of training
Industrial Design	Product Design	Furniture Design, Textile Design (construction and finish of fabrics), Fashion Design (design of apparel for manufacture), Jewellery Design (design of jewellery for batch or mass production)	Exhibition and Display Design, Digital Animation Design, Digital Game Design
Interior Design	Interior Architecture, Spatial Design	Commercial Interior Design, Residential Interior Design, Retail Design, TV, Film & Theatre Set	Exhibition and Display Design, Furniture Design
Graphic Design	Visual Communication	Web Design, Multimedia Design, Digital Animation Design, Exhibition and Display Design, Digital Game Design	Textile Design (printed textiles)

Both Textile Design and Fashion Design are clearly primary disciplines in their own right. Both have a long history and have tertiary training specifically available in Australia. However it assists understanding their commercial intent to position them as specialist product development disciplines.

In addition the new digital media areas relating to graphic design are also developing their own education paths and are increasingly seen as distinct occupations.

Gary Bortz

FDIA

Robyn Wood

MDIA

Natalie Wright

FDIA

Cherel Millist

MDIA

Gillian MacMillan

MDIA

Lisa Hunt

MDIA