Industrial design is continuously changing and evolving. In recent years, this change has included the integration of methods from adjacent and complementary disciplines, resulting in the expansion of knowledge and skillset. A traditional approach to industrial design focused on developing mass-produced products is no longer enough to satisfy the needs of the profession. While physical interaction remains as a key component of the process, many products out in the market also include intangible digital interfaces. This tendency is obvious in Information and Communication Technologies (ICT’s) products such as computers, tablets and mobile devices but it is also prevalent in products not considered hi-tech. From lightbulbs to measuring spoons and wastebaskets, and everything in between, more and more consumer products contain circuit boards and electronic components that improve their productivity and connectivity. This dramatic change in the marketplace urges industrial design to adapt itself and to address needs for systems that address user experience at multiple levels, involving tangible and intangible components. These systems need to provide the user with multiple layers of products, services and environments that work together to address complex needs and wants for individuals, communities and society.

An area where design boundaries are being blurred is tangible interaction. Industrial designers are trained for enabling physical interaction between users and their products, which requires strong focus in understanding how attributes such as shape, materials, texture, color, and relative position communicate functionality. Interaction designers, on the other hand, look at how intangible components such as digital interfaces provide logical sequences and behaviors that allow users to perform tasks and successfully navigate through complex workflows. The concept of ‘statefulness’ is key in interaction design, where the dynamic changes of complex systems are broken down into states that can be defined and manipulated in order to achieve a desired user experience. By combining the attention to physical and digital interactions with a strong focus on their multiple states and overall objectives, designers can achieve new and exciting systems that benefit from logical organization and multiple layers of interaction.

This paper discusses the framework in which interaction design provides a fresh and innovative way of thinking to traditional industrial design. This framework goes beyond having physical components of a product control digital interfaces and develops systems that identify states, relationships and experiences that jump between physical and virtual realms. The integration of interaction and industrial design is put into practice in a graduate level studio course at Rochester Institute of Technology, in which students are directed by instructors with expertise in both disciplines, all working together in exploratory assignments. The result is a series of projects that elevate user interaction by integrating methods from both design perspectives. An added benefit is a model for multidisciplinary collaboration that helps students to understand their role in design’s ever-evolving practice.