More nGrams

Here is another look at some Google nGrams about design.  This time the subject is the use of the phrases "Industrial Design" and "Product Design";

This chart compares the use of "Industrial Design" and "Product Design" between 1800 and 2000.

As you can see, there was a little uptick in the 1870's but until about 1930 neither phrase was showing up in the literature much, at which point "Industrial Design" really starts to take off.

The other interesting thing is that "Product Design" started to take off in the late 70's and finally catches up with Industrial Design about 1995. Obviously there is something going on here.

In my next post, Beginning to See the Light, we'll dig deeper into this and start to see how it ties in with the current interest in Design Thinking.