Role of the In-House Industrial Designers in the Turkish Industry

Turkish industry is a developing industry with stimuli like the European Union and the global market. These stimuli push the industry towards quality products, branding, innovation and creativity. Turkish industry needs to re-evaluate the new product development process by including factors such as innovation, competitive advantage, branding, corporate identity, technological improvement and include the industrial designer in the product development process. With the development efforts in Turkish industry towards taking part in the global market competition, and the harmonization process with the European Union, the industrial design profession in Turkey has gained significant importance. Manufacturers who strive for quality, who aim to create brands through design have seen that it is hardly possible to succeed without investing in industrial design, either in-house or by outsourcing. However, it is possible to see that the Turkish industry is having a hard time understanding the full potential of the industrial design profession; seeing it as a form oriented discipline rather than a field of study that brings together the whole product development process.