工业设计使想法切实可行。从根本上讲，它是可用对象的概念和实质性表达与制造，满足需求或满足愿望或发表声明的事物，与当今相关的事物。工业设计人员具有材料的机械和物理特性的知识，这使他们能够突破可能的极限。工业设计专业的学生将学习批判性思考自己做事的动机并解释这样做的后果。他们学习如何在实践中交流思想，如何在跨学科团队中工作以及如何以3D形式执行思想。富有想像力的想法可能对整个世界产生持久而积极的影响。
Industrial design makes ideas tangible. It is, at root, the conceptual and material articulation and fabrication of usable objects, things that fulfill a need or gratify a desire or make a statement, things relevant to the present-day. Industrial designers possess a knowledge of the mechanical and physical properties of materials that enables them to push the limits of the possible. Students of industrial design learn to think critically about their motivations to make a thing and to account for the consequences of doing so. They learn how to communicate their ideas as a matter of practice, how to work in interdisciplinary teams, and how to execute their ideas in 3-D form. Imaginative ideas that hold the potential for a lasting and positive effect on the world at large.