World Design Organization (WDO)® is a globally recognized non-governmental organization that aims to promote and advance the discipline of industrial design and its power to enhance economic, social, cultural and environmental quality of life. Founded in 1957 as the International Council of Societies of Industrial Design by a group of international organizations focused on industrial design, WDO has grown to include over 200 member organizations across more than 40 nations,[1] representing an estimated 400,000 designers.
With UNESCO Consultative Status, the organization embraces the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as a framework for action and engages the international design community through innovative programming and initiatives that aim identify design-led opportunities to pressing global challenges.
History
Jacques Viénot first presented the idea to form a society to represent the industrial designers internationally at the Institut d’Esthetique Industrielle's international congress in 1953. The International Council of Societies of Industrial Designers was formally founded at a meeting in London on June 29, 1957.The name Icsid demonstrates the spirit which is to protect the interests of practicing designers and to ensure global standards of design. The individuals first elected officials to the Executive Board therefore did not act upon personal conviction, but represented the voice of society members and the international design community.
The organization then officially registered in Paris and set up their headquarters there. Icsid's early goals were to help public awareness of industrial designers, to raise the standard of design by setting standards for training and education, and to encourage cooperation between industrial designers worldwide. To do this, in 1959 Icsid held the first Congress and General Assembly in Stockholm (Sweden). At this first Congress, the Icsid Constitution was officially adopted, along with the first definition of industrial design. During this Congress, Icsid's official name was changed from the International Council of Societies of Industrial Designers to the International Council of Societies of Industrial Design to reflect that the organization would involve itself beyond matters of professional practice.
In 1963, Icsid was granted special status with the United Nations, with whom WDO continues to work on many projects, using design for the betterment of the human condition. As their humanitarian interests grew, Icsid decided to create a new type of conference that would join industrial designers in a host country to study a problem of both regional and international significance. This new conference held in Minsk in 1971, became the first Interdesign seminar. These seminars provided opportunities for professional development of practicing designers, and to allow them to focus their abilities on resolving issues of international significance. This first Interdesign conference and the ones that followed consolidated Icsid's position as a driving force of international collaboration.
In 1971, the 7th Congress of the International Council of Societies of Industrial Design (ICSID), organised by the Agrupació de Disseny Industrial del Foment de les Arts Decoratives (ADI/FAD) in Eivissa (Ibiza), turned out to be an event without precedent in Spain: a process of socialisation and an example of how the energy of collaborative work, vitality, intellectual reflection and leisure can be placed at the service of dialogue-based projects with the capacity to generate imaginative approaches and structure new behavioural patterns.[2]
In 1974, the Icsid Secretariat moved from Paris (France), to Brussels (Belgium). Then in 1985, the office moved again to Helsinki (Finland), before settling in Montreal (Canada) in 2005, where it currently resides.
In the 1980s, collaboration became even more important so a joint Icsid/Icograda/IFI Congress was held in Helsinki. The impetus for this joint conference was a direct recommendation made by Icsid members to explore closer ties with other world design organizations. At their General Assemblies, all participants unanimously approved a directive to investigate options for a closer working relationship in the future. These organizations then joined with UNESCO to bring together doctors, industrial and graphic designers, and assistants to develop basic furniture for rural health centres, packaging, transport, refrigeration, and injection of vaccines and the design of data collecting devices for field use.
In 2003, Icsid and Icograda ratified an agreement between both organizations during their respective General Assemblies to form the International Design Alliance, a multidisciplinary partnership that supports design. In 2008, the IDA partners welcomed a third member, IFI (International Federation of Interior Architects/Designers).[3] Together in 2011, all three partners held a historical joint Congress in Taipei, Taiwan called the IDA Congress. The alliance was terminated in November 2013.
In January 2017, Icsid officially became World Design Organization (WDO).
Board of Directors
The WDO Board of Directors is the governing body that directs and supports WDO's mission and vision. It is composed of international industrial design professionals selected by WDO Members during the General Assembly. A total of 11 members make up the Executive Board: President, President-elect, and 9 Board members. Each board member serves a two-year term and may be re-elected for a second term, but cannot run for a third term, unless running for President-Elect. Every term, one of the 9 serving Board Members is appointed Treasurer.
Senate
The Senate is composed of all WDO past Presidents. The groups acts as an advisory board, with the most current past President serving as the Convenor of the Senate until the next General Assembly.
Regional Advisors and Community Liaisons
Regional Advisors are former WDO Board Members who are appointed to represent WDO through regional events and strengthen the organization's global presence. They are key in leveraging the strength of our international membership, ensuring the organization remains visible, and aligning the design agendas of their region to the aspirations of design for a better world.
Community Liaisons may be nominated by board members for term-long appointments to provide an informed voice from a city, country or region. Working closely with the board member responsible for their region, they identify key individuals and resources to empower local design communities and connect them with the organization and its work.
Secretariat
The Secretariat team facilitates the exchange of ideas within the design community by implementing WDO's programmes and initiatives, and raises awareness of the power of industrial design to effect positive change in the world. The Secretariat office has been previously located in Paris, Brussels, and Helsinki. Since 2005, the office has been located in Montreal (Canada).
Members
Since its founding, WDO has gathered design organizations and designers they represent into a global community. Today, WDO supports a growing network of over 200 WDO Members and is the only organization connecting corporate, educational, professional, promotional and municipal design institutions. Through collaboration, exchange and partnership, WDO Members aim to advance the profession of industrial design and promote its contribution to economic, social, cultural and environmental development.
Programmes
World Design Assembly
Held biennially since 1959, the World Design Assembly™ (WDA) is a multi-day event that gathers WDO’s leadership, membership and design representatives from diverse sectors to engage, reflect and discuss key issues affecting the design profession and the world at large. It comprises three main events: a Research and Education Forum, an international design conference and WDO’s General Assembly. Hosted by a different city every two years, the World Design Assembly is often held in conjunction with an existing or newly established local design event, such as a design week or design conference.
World Design Capital
With more than half the world’s population now living in cities, design has become an increasingly fundamental tool for making cities more attractive, competitive, efficient, livable, and sustainable. Designated every two years by WDO, World Design Capital® (WDC) recognizes a city’s innovative use of design to strengthen economic, social, cultural and environmental development. Through a year-long programme of design-related events, WDC provides a platform to showcase best practices in design-led urban policy and innovation, increase civic engagement, as well as attract new business and tourism opportunities. Prior to designating a city, WDO launches a global call for submissions. Submissions are then evaluated by a Selection Committee to determine a shortlist of 2 cities. WDO representatives visit each shortlisted city before a final selection is made.
First launched in Torino (Italy) in 2008, the WDC programme has grown to include 11 cities. The current World Design Capital network includes:
The World Design Impact Prize™ (WDIP) was established in 2011 to honour and elevate industrial design driven projects that leverage design towards the improvement of social, economic, cultural and environmental conditions around the world. The Prize aims to bring recognition and exposure for socially responsible design projects and initiatives in the hope of stimulating future growth and support for these ventures and encouraging a global exchange of meaningful solutions. Throughout four programme cycles and over 500 nominated projects, the World Design Impact Prize has addressed a variety of global issues, from simple creations to help curb the spread of disease, to complex structures that harness traditional technology to generate clean energy. The programme plays a key role in WDO’s mission to inspire equitable and collaborative global change through design.
Interdesign
Dating back to 1971, WDO’s Interdesign® programme brings together designers from around the world to address local problems of global significance. Initially conceived as a way for designers to become more involved in broader, community-driven projects, these workshops have spanned the globe. Tackling issues such as climate change, urban transportation, ageing population, green spaces, healthcare access, and water management, Interdesigns are hosted by a different local organization or consortium each time. Over a two-week period, the programme connects established designers, young professionals, students and relevant stakeholders from both the host region and the international design community to research, collaborate and ideate under the banner of a specific theme. From the first Interdesign in Minsk (1971), which explored the production and distribution of bread, to the most recent in Mumbai (2014), which sought to address some of the social and infrastructure challenges facing the growing city, these unique workshops have produced an array of innovative design solutions with lasting impact.
In 2020, WDO launched a virtual chapter of our Interdesign programme. World Design Challenges are two-week, virtual workshops that bring together international volunteer groups of designers and subject matter experts to tackle a specific issue or topic. Collaborating alongside partners like IBM, Design for America, UN Women Asia and the Pacific, ISS National Laboratory and World Packaging Organisation, WDO has since hosted four World Design Challenges.
World Industrial Design Day
Observed annually on 29 June, World Industrial Design Day (WIDD) celebrates and recognizes the power of design to strengthen economic, social, cultural, and environmental development around the world. Established in 2008, it represents the first international day of observance created uniquely to highlight the merits of the industrial design profession and its impact on quality of life. As an open-source programme, WIDD engages the global design community under the banner of a different theme each year, encouraging the development of design-led events, activities, workshops, competitions and exhibits.
World Design Protopolis
Established in 2020, World Design Protopolis (WDP)™ supports the creation of solutions-based design projects to address key development issues globally. The programme empowers a selected city or community with the design knowledge and resources required to initiate targeted and transformational projects that improve civic quality of life. Derived from the idea of prototyping a metropolis, the term Protopolis was first introduced as part of the City of Bengaluru’s 2019 bid for World Design Capital®. With the goal of making design methodologies more accessible across a variety of social and economic contexts, the programme supports cities with both established and developing design acumen to implement projects that use design as a driver for positive change. World Design Protopolis projects can vary in both duration and scope depending on the challenges to be explored, but in each case, the Protopolis platform connects a city with local, national and international partners to facilitate the transfer of design knowledge that has the power to improve the long-term well-being of a city and its citizens. The pilot World Design Protopolis project will take place in Bengaluru (India) from 2023 to 2028.
World Design Medal
Established in 2017 in honour of WDO’s 60th anniversary, the World Design Medal™ honours individuals who have made a significant contribution to the advancement of the industrial design profession. This special merit recognizes the impact one individual has had on their peers, in their local design community and internationally and aims to raise awareness about how industrial design driven innovation can positively impact economic, social and environmental quality of life. The inaugural 2017 World Design Medal was presented to German industrial designer Hartmut Esslinger at the 30th World Design Assembly in Torino. In 2022, American industrial designer Dr. Patricia Moore was named as the recipient of the second cycle of the World Design Medal.
World Design Talks
Established in 2016, World Design Talks® (WDT) is a series of one-day workshops hosted in various locations around the globe. The programme aims to address local challenges of global relevance — from rapid urbanization to climate change and migration — to explore the ways in which design and collaborative mindsets can help to identify actionable solutions. The first World Design Talk was held in Turkey, with workshops subsequently taking place in Mexico, China, Morocco and Slovenia. More recently, WDO has hosted two virtual WDT workshops addressing gender-based violence and social impact through the lens of design.
Young Designers Circle
With the goal of harnessing the creativity and ambition of the next generation of design leaders and educators across multiple disciplines and regions, WDO established its Young Designers Circle (YDC) in 2020. Aligned with our mission to design for a better world, and objectives to promote the use of design to help meet the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs), the programme aims to strengthen the role of design leadership today, by planting seeds that will lead to a large impact tomorrow. Having since connected more than 50 young designers from over 20 different countries, the programme is now preparing for its third cycle.
Gorman, Michael (1968). Design for Tourism: And Icsid Interdesign. Ireland: International Council of Societies of Industrial Design. ISBN978-0-08-021481-8.
Borja de Mozota, Brigitte (2003). Design Management: Using Design to Build Brand Value and Corporate Innovation. New York: Allworth Press. ISBN978-1-58115-283-8.
Verganti, Roberto (2009). Design Driven Innovation: Changing the Rules of Competition by Radically Innovating What Things Mean. New York: Harvard Business Press. ISBN978-1-4221-2482-6.
