Industrial design as it applies to UX (user experience) design is a design philosophy and type that bridges the gap between physical products and digital experiences. You use its principles to shape how users hold, interact with, and perceive objects, making form, function, and material key to usability. When you apply industrial design principles insightfully, you can craft more seamless, human-centered experiences.
In this video, Alan Dix, Author of the bestselling book “Human-Computer Interaction” and Director of the Computational Foundry at Swansea University, explains how understanding users’ emotional responses helps you shape physical and digital experiences that feel more human-centered.
What does the term “industrial design” mean to you? Do you think of production lines turning out well-designed goods by the thousands every day? Maybe you’ve linked it to a coffee cup, computer keyboard, or desk lamp. Or perhaps it conjures imagery of the Industrial Revolution itself in the 19th century, when factories ushered in the then-new concept of mass production and pushed the old approach of handmade products into specialty niches.
Traditionally, industrial design refers to shaping physical products for mass production, focusing on form, usability, and human interaction. It includes how a product looks, feels, and functions in real-world conditions.
Let’s carry this over to UX design. At first, you may sense a slight disconnect between so physical-based an approach and the grand sphere of designing digital experiences for 21st-century users. However, the discipline of industrial design enriches how designers create user-centered experiences that include physical touchpoints. Think of smart devices, wearables, or hardware interfaces: all very much part of user experience design and inextricably bound to modern products, complete with user interfaces.
Instead of treating screens and hardware separately, UX professionals have to integrate these two “worlds” harmoniously. You’ve got to consider how physical characteristics like shape, materials, tactile feedback, and environmental conditions influence the digital experience. For example, a user’s interaction with a smart speaker doesn’t start with the app itself. It begins with the physical dimensions of how the device sits in a room, how its buttons feel, and whether users intuitively know how to use it.
Discover how the evolution of design from ancient architecture to human-computer interaction shapes the user-centered experiences you create today.
You can apply industrial design principles in UX design with the following best practices in mind:
UX workflows often prioritize digital mockups, but, for physical products, testing should include tactile models too. So, use foam, cardboard, or 3D-printed prototypes to evaluate how a product feels, where controls are placed, and how users hold or manipulate it. This early-stage feedback can help you reduce the chances of costly redesigns later.
In this video, Alan Dix shows how creating and evaluating early prototypes, from quick sketches to higher-fidelity models, helps you uncover issues and improve your design with real users.
Great physical-digital experiences result from cross-functional work, a good reason for you as a UX designer to engage early with industrial designers, engineers, and product managers to align on constraints, form factors, and user needs. Shared research and co-design sessions help ensure the physical form and digital behavior reinforce each other and blend in harmony to help facilitate delightful and seamless user experiences.
Usability testing should go beyond the lab, so get out there and observe users in the actual environment where the product will live. For example, that could be a workshop, kitchen, hospital, or outdoors. Context-aware testing can reveal physical issues, such as glare, reach, or accidental input, that wouldn’t emerge in a simulated setting and that can have a significant bearing on how successful the design is.
In this video, Frank Spillers, Service Designer, Founder and CEO of Experience Dynamics, explains why you should observe users in real contexts so you can base design decisions on actual behavior rather than assumptions.
Create experience maps that include physical interactions, not just screen states. Outline steps such as “pick up device,” “orient it,” “feel for a button,” “press to activate,” and “see confirmation light” to help you understand how physical and digital parts of the experience connect and where any breakdowns occur.
Don’t rely on visual design alone; integrate tactile, auditory, and haptic cues that support user actions. For example, design buttons that click audibly or vibrate subtly on press to reinforce interaction success; they’re cues that boost accessibility and reinforce intuitive behavior.
Consider factors like maintenance, cleaning, upgrading, and recycling of the product. Physical durability, battery access, and modular components all influence user satisfaction and environmental impact. Good UX includes planning for these moments over the lifetime of the product, not just its first-time use, and responsible design means factoring sustainability into the approach too.
In this video, Don Norman, Father of User Experience design, author of the legendary book “The Design of Everyday Things”, and co-founder of the Nielsen Norman Group, explains why designing products that can be repaired, upgraded, and reused is essential for reducing waste over their lifespan.
You’ll want to adopt an expanded scope where industrial and UX design meet so you can craft more cohesive, context-aware interactions that anticipate both digital and physical user needs. For that, you’ll want a solid grasp of key industrial design principles, namely:
In industrial design, form isn’t decorative; it serves a function. The shape, size, and layout of a product must support what users need to do with it. In UX design, this principle means you move beyond visual interfaces to consider how physical form shapes behavior. For example, a wearable fitness tracker shouldn’t only display data clearly; it’s also got to feel comfortable on the wrist and invite interaction through intuitive gestures.
This user-centered view ensures that every design choice, from curves and contours to button placement, aligns with actual user tasks and contexts. Products become easier to use not because of clever UI (user interface) alone, but because their physical form anticipates user intent; you prove you’ve tailored a design so the user of it can perform their desired tasks and do what they want to do easily.
UX doesn’t start with the screen; it starts with the body, hence why ergonomics (the study of individuals’ efficiency in their work environment) and human-factors research provide data and methods for designing products that fit diverse users in real environments. Industrial design applies these principles to ensure that a product feels good to hold, minimizes strain, and works reliably under a range of physical conditions.
As a UX designer, you benefit from this thinking by designing for reach, grip, weight distribution, and motion. These ergonomic choices reduce user fatigue, enhance safety, and make the experience more inclusive. A medical device, for instance, needs to accommodate users with limited dexterity or varying strength, and it’s in designing for these constraints where industrial design and UX design converge.
A product’s material and tactile qualities shape how users perceive its quality and trustworthiness. Texture, weight, temperature, and haptic feedback all influence how users interact with devices; for example, consider how a smooth steel surface might suggest precision and cleanliness, while a rubberized grip communicates durability and control.
Industrial designers use these cues to convey purpose without words. For UX designers, integrating sensory feedback, such as a button’s click, a surface’s texture, or a slight vibration upon interaction, reinforces usability. These subtle signals reduce uncertainty and create satisfying physical-digital handoffs, with more assured and more satisfied users.
In this video, Alan Dix explains how haptic cues like vibration, force, and texture help users understand interactions with greater confidence.
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Good design lets users know what they can do with a product, without needing a manual; that intuitiveness fast-tracks correct and satisfying interactions. Industrial design emphasizes physical affordances: cues that suggest action through shape and positioning. For instance, a dial invites turning and a handle invites pulling. These cues become even more important when digital interfaces layer onto physical products.
In UX design, you can enhance clarity and reduce learning curves by aligning physical affordances with digital intent. Think of a smartphone; if a power button is flush and hidden, it’s harder to find and operate, and that’s even if the UI is clear. When you design controls and surfaces that signal their function through form, it increases usability and reduces cognitive load.
This video explains how clear affordances and anti-affordances help people understand what your physical and digital controls are meant to do.
Design doesn’t happen in a vacuum; industrial designers consider the settings in which people use products. Is it a noisy factory? A sunlit kitchen? A moving vehicle? Environmental factors affect visibility, access, safety, and performance.
In UX design, you want to improve product reliability and satisfaction by testing in real environments and designing for context. For example, outdoor devices must perform under glare, in the rain, or with gloves. When you take environmental factors into account, you can fashion experiences that feel thoughtful and resilient and aren’t just beautiful on a desk.
In this video, Alan Dix explains why your designs must account for the real environments in which people use a product.
Industrial design helps shape the emotional tone of a product through form, proportion, color, and material choices. These choices influence how users feel, namely in confidence, delight, trust, or frustration. While the focus in UX design is often on task flow and usability, physical aesthetics add another layer of meaning.
Products that “feel right” in the hand and look visually resolved tend to generate stronger emotional connections. Aligning physical design with brand identity and digital UI helps ensure a cohesive experience for users to enjoy. For instance, if your app is minimal and calm, but the hardware feels clunky or aggressive, the dissonance hurts trust and appeal.
Industrial design’s “place” in UX design means it’s virtually welded into the “fabric” of the latter, with benefits such as these:
When you align digital and physical interactions, it removes friction and makes products easier to use.
In this video, Cory Lebson, Principal User Experience researcher with 20+ years experience and author of The UX Careers Handbook, explains how usability depends on ensuring users can achieve their goals effectively, efficiently, and with satisfaction.
Consistent physical form and feedback reinforce brand values and help differentiate products in crowded markets.
Devices that feel good in users’ hands and work naturally are more likely to be ones they’ll embrace and recommend.
Ergonomic and sensory comfort contributes to continued, enjoyable use over time. These benefits extend beyond aesthetics; they support a product’s emotional resonance, long-term value, and overall success.
Accessible design is non-negotiable, especially when you consider it’s the law in many jurisdictions. Aside from the legalities, though, when you consider diverse physical contexts and capabilities, you can tailor more inclusive design solutions that help all users in the process.
Explore how accessible design ensures people with diverse abilities can understand and use your interfaces with ease.
Overall, industrial design brings physical insight to UX work and helps you align your design solutions with physical realities and manufacturing constraints. It also helps you move beyond flat screens and into the lived world of objects, spaces, and touch, so you create experiences that live in the real world, not just wireframes. By combining ergonomic awareness, material sensitivity, and contextual testing, you can deliver richer, more intuitive experiences that users understand, enjoy, trust, and come back to.
So, whether you’re designing a fitness tracker, a smart home controller, or a medical device, consider the principles of industrial design. They’re tools that help you ensure those interactions feel natural, supportive, and human. Start by seeing the product in your user’s hands, and proceed from there. That’s where great UX begins, and continues through the delight of users who soon mightn’t be able to imagine life without such a well-designed product.
Explore a treasure trove of insights and practical tips to advance your design skills, with our course Get Your Product Used: Adoption and Appropriation.
Enjoy our Master Class Get Ahead in Product Design with AI with Rafael Hernandez, Lead Product Designer, T. Rowe Price.
Discover a wealth of insights from a renowned industrial designer, in our article Dieter Rams: 10 Timeless Commandments for Good Design.
Find additional essential points about industrial design and more in the IxDF’s The Encyclopedia of Human-Computer Interaction, 2nd Ed. entry for Industrial Design.
Industrial design shapes how users interact with and feel about hardware products. Designers consider form, texture, weight, and ergonomics to make products intuitive and satisfying to use. A well-designed object doesn’t just look good; it fits seamlessly into a user’s life. Think of the iPhone’s rounded edges or the Dyson vacuum’s handle grip. These design choices reduce cognitive friction and enhance comfort.
Industrial design also determines affordances, which signal how users should interact with a product. When a button invites a press or a dial invites a twist, the experience becomes natural. Whatever you’re designing, you’ll need to balance aesthetics, engineering, and user needs. The result? Products people don’t just use; they love (and love the brands behind them), too.
Pick up valuable insights in our article Product Design and UX Design Roles: Unveiling the Differences.
Absolutely; UX (user experience) design principles like usability, accessibility, and user-centered design apply directly to physical products. Industrial designers often rely on empathy and iterative testing, which are core UX methods, to craft user-friendly tools.
Techniques like personas (research-based, synthetic representations of real users) and journey mapping help them understand user goals and pain points. Designers also use feedback loops, just like digital UX teams, to refine prototypes. Consider how a smart speaker must deliver clear audio, respond intuitively to voice, and visually fit into home decor. These touchpoints all reflect UX thinking. By integrating UX principles, industrial designers create physical products that not only function well but also delight users across touch, sight, and sound.
Discover more about personas and you’ll understand why you’ll want to design with them for better outcomes all around.
To design seamless physical-digital experiences, align the product’s form, feedback, and functionality across both realms. A smart thermostat, for example, offers tactile satisfaction via hardware controls and intuitive feedback through its app.
The key lies in consistency. Use matching icons, colors, and interaction patterns across hardware and UIs (user interfaces). Ensure the product responds quickly and predictably whether the user interacts via touch, voice, or screen. Test real-world use cases where transitions between physical and digital happen naturally, such as adjusting lights by app or switch. Industrial and UX design should work in tandem early, treating hardware and software as a unified system, not separate layers.
Delve deeper into touch in design by investigating the fascinating realm of tangible interaction and what it means for users.
Good UX in industrial design includes products that simplify interactions while satisfying user needs. Take the Apple Watch, for example; it delivers health insights, notifications, and seamless digital integration, all through a small, comfortable interface. Nest thermostats offer another example: they learn user habits and adjust automatically, with a physical dial that feels both retro and high-tech.
The Logitech MX Master mouse offers ergonomic support and customizable buttons for productivity. These devices demonstrate thoughtful design: intuitive controls, responsive feedback, and form factors that blend into users’ routines. Great industrial UX doesn’t call attention to itself; it quietly enhances daily life by solving real problems really well.
Explore some fascinating points about smart design in our article Learn 6 fundamental UX Smartwatch lessons that Apple learned the hard way.
Physical constraints, such as size, materials, battery life, and manufacturing limits, directly shape UX decisions in industrial design. A smartwatch’s tiny screen, for example, limits interface complexity and interaction time. That’s why it’s vital to simplify navigation and prioritize key functions.
Material choices affect grip, durability, and comfort. If a device overheats or feels too heavy, users will reject it regardless of digital features. Battery size impacts how long a product runs and how users recharge it. Constraints challenge designers to distill experiences down to essentials. Smart industrial design embraces limits as creative boundaries, guiding choices that result in better usability, lower cognitive load, and longer engagement.
Find a wealth of helpful insights to design with, in our article Get to Grips with Constraints.
Designing accessible physical products means ensuring everyone can use them regardless of ability. Use tactile features, large buttons, clear labels, and high-contrast color schemes to improve usability. Design products that don’t rely solely on sight, hearing, or fine motor control. For example, OXO kitchen tools use padded, easy-grip handles to aid users with arthritis.
Consider standards like ADA or ISO accessibility guidelines to ensure compliance. Test prototypes with users who have diverse needs. Accessibility includes packaging and instructions, too, so ensure people can open, understand, and operate products independently. Accessible design doesn’t just serve a few; it benefits all users.
Get right into the essential, and legally enforced, realm of accessibility, with our article 3 Reasons Why Accessible Design Is Good for All.
Personas and journey maps are essential tools in physical product design. Personas represent typical users, highlighting their needs, pain points, and goals. Journey maps track their interactions with the product, from unboxing to daily use. For example, a persona for a fitness tracker might include a busy parent aiming to improve health. The journey map could reveal friction points like syncing data or finding charging time.
These insights guide design decisions that can improve usability, comfort, and emotional connection. And by grounding the process in real user behavior, you can craft more intuitive, valuable, and delightful physical experiences, before, during, and after interaction.
Explore customer journey maps, essential tools to reveal a wealth of insights about users and how you can accommodate them every step of the way with your product.
Yes, industrial and UX designers can switch roles with the right skills. Industrial designers already focus on user behavior, form, and function, and they’re skills that transfer well to UX. They understand prototyping, ergonomics, and problem-solving. UX designers, on the other hand, excel in interaction flows, usability testing, and systems thinking.
To cross over, industrial designers can learn digital tools, while UX designers can study materials, manufacturing, and physical ergonomics. The rise of smart products makes this crossover even more valuable. Products like wearables or smart appliances demand both physical and digital expertise, a reality that makes hybrid designers highly sought after.
Explore another comparison of careers and many valuable career insights in our article How to Become a Product Manager: Best Career Advice.
User research for physical products includes field observation, contextual inquiry, interviews, and usability testing. Start by watching how people interact with similar products in real environments. Ask open-ended questions to uncover unmet needs or workarounds. Create paper or foam prototypes to test form and grip early.
Conduct A/B testing with different physical features, such as button placement, weight, or texture, to identify user preferences. Include edge cases and accessibility considerations, too, such as left-handed users, children, or people with disabilities. Log pain points and emotional responses throughout. Unlike digital-only research, physical product studies often require tactile feedback and spatial awareness. Do real-world testing well and you’ll help ensure the design feels right to users and fits users’ lives.
Get deeper into user research and why you want to do it well to make better products, in our article User Research: What It Is and Why You Should Do It.
Balancing aesthetics and usability means designing products that are both beautiful and functional. Start with the user’s needs, such as comfort, clarity, efficiency, and then wrap those essentials in an appealing form. Avoid letting visual trends compromise function. For instance, a sleek wireless speaker might look great, but if the buttons are hard to press or the interface confusing, users will grow frustrated.
Use color and shape to guide behavior and enhance legibility. Consider affordances, how the form invites use, and design effective ones. Test early and often, and iterate until users can operate the product intuitively. Aesthetic elegance should always support, not overshadow, practical interaction.
Speaking of form, explore important principles such as form follows function in our article Aesthetics and form need to hold hands.
Kaasinen, E., Roto, V., Hakulinen, J., Heimonen, T., Jokinen, J. P. P., Karvonen, H., Keskinen, T., Koskinen, H., Lu, Y., Saariluoma, P., Tokkonen, H., & Turunen, M. (2015). Defining user experience goals to guide the design of industrial systems. Behaviour & Information Technology, 34(10), 976–991.
This peer-reviewed journal article explores how to define user experience (UX) goals within the context of designing industrial systems. Based on a combination of literature review and case studies, the authors propose five goal-setting approaches: based on brand, theory, empathy, technology, and vision. This work is highly influential in bridging the gap between industrial design and UX design by emphasizing how explicitly defined UX goals can guide product development in complex, technical environments. It is both theoretically grounded and practically applicable, and it is freely accessible via open-access institutional repositories.
Morris, J. A. (2021). Enhancing industrial design education with user experience design. Paper presented at the IDSA Education Symposium. Industrial Designers Society of America.
Though not a peer-reviewed journal article, this white-paper-style conference paper from the IDSA Education Symposium discusses the integration of UX principles into industrial design education. Morris argues that modern industrial design programs should better prepare students for careers in UX, given the increasing overlap between physical product design and digital interaction. The paper outlines curricular and pedagogical adjustments to bridge traditional ID with contemporary UX practice. It is valuable for understanding academic transitions in design education and is openly available via the IDSA website.
Zhang, N. (2023). Industrial product design and application based on interaction design principles. Industrial Engineering and Innovation Management, 6(8), 6–10.
This article discusses how principles of interaction design, such as user research, interface usability, and user-centered methodology, can be applied to industrial product design. Zhang emphasizes how the evolution of digital technologies is reshaping industrial design to include user experience considerations that were traditionally outside its domain. The paper provides a contemporary overview of how interaction design frameworks influence the development of physical products. The article is open access and freely downloadable from the publisher’s website.
King, S., & Chang, K. (2016). Understanding Industrial Design: Principles for UX and Interaction Design. Sebastopol, CA: O’Reilly Media.
This book shows UX and interaction designers how to incorporate key industrial‑design principles when products move beyond the screen. The authors identify seven core industrial‑design themes (sensorial, simple, enduring, playful, thoughtful, sustainable, beautiful) and give real‑world examples to show how physical design thinking influences the experience of connected devices and systems. It’s influential because as hardware, IoT (Internet of Things), and physical interaction become more common, this book helps UX designers speak the language of product/industrial design and bridge the digital‑physical gap.
Norman, D. A. (2013). The Design of Everyday Things: Revised and Expanded Edition. New York: Basic Books.
Originally published in 1988 (as The Psychology of Everyday Things), this revised edition is a cornerstone text that spans industrial design, interaction design, and usability. Norman introduces fundamental concepts such as “affordances,” the “gulf of execution and evaluation,” and user‑centered design. Though not solely about industrial design, it’s foundational for understanding how real‑world physical objects (and digital objects) communicate with users and how design mistakes frustrate people. Because so much UX deals with physical‑digital convergence, it remains highly relevant.
Norman, D. A. (2005). Emotional Design: Why We Love (or Hate) Everyday Things. New York: Basic Books.
In this follow‑up to The Design of Everyday Things, Norman explores how emotional reactions to objects (physical or digital) matter just as much as usability. He identifies three levels of design experience (visceral, behavioral, and reflective) and argues that good industrial/UX design must address how users feel, not just what they do. This book influences how designers think about the broader user‑experience of products (beyond functionality) and is especially important where hardware, product aesthetics, and brand identity intersect with UX.
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Here's the entire UX literature on Industrial Design by the Interaction Design Foundation, collated in one place:
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