This handbook provides an essential guide to the world of industrial design. Within its pages, it explores what constitutes successful design, how it works and how product design creates a market for itself. It also delves into the multifarious role of product designers, as new technology and materials present new possibilities for both form and function. "What is Product Design?" proves itself to be such essential reading through the many areas that it covers. These include issues of longevity and life cycles, concept generation, prototyping and product placement. "What is Product Design?" is not just an in-depth exploration of successful design, it is also a stunning, diverse portfolio of cutting-edge work from designers and studios throughout the globe. Like the other titles in the "Essential Design Handbooks" series, this will be necessary reading for all graphic designers, professional and student alike.