Richard Fry, IDSA

Faculty, Industrial Design, Brigham Young University

Richard Fry is a faculty member of the Industrial Design program at Brigham Young University and has served both as Chair of the ID program and the Director of the multidisciplinary School of Technology. He received his MFA from the University of Illinois – Urbana Champaign.

Professionally, Richard worked at the Seattle based design firm Teague, the global appliance manufacturer Whirlpool, and at Icon Health and Fitness, where he worked on brands such as Health Rider and Nordic Track.

Industrial Design in the Middle: The Hybrid Space between Science and Culture

Education Symposium
World Café

Sept 13, 2022

Foyer - Table 1

10:00 AM - 10:55 AM

After 23 years in the College of Engineering, the Industrial Design program at our institution is winding down. The different culture in that environment was cause for serious reflection in the face of inevitable philosophical change. One of the rewarding outcomes was clarity in how we defined the space in which ID could thrive, and how that was related to engineering and technology disciplines.

Often, disciplines use a subset model that puts them at the center. Instead, a more holistic model based on the appeals of rhetoric – LOGOS, ETHOS, and PATHOS – provides an intriguing space with fewer disciplinary boundaries.

This paper will describe this model and highlight a particular location that places ID as one of many disciplines engaged in the process of giving RELEVANCE to technology and the outputs of Engineering and Science.

Richard Fry, IDSA

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