Volume 1 Issue 1 (2024) 1 doi: 10.36922/dp.3929 REVIEW De+Sign = Design thinking or thinking design? A brief overview from the Industrial Revolution to nowadays Lisa Giusti Gestri* Future Building Initiative (FBI), Monash Art, Design and Architecture (MADA), Monash University, Melbourne, Australia Design+ Abstract The Industrial Revolution (IR) was the most important single development in human history over the past three centuries and since then; it has continued to shape the contemporary world. From its beginning, it has been a global process that resulted from changes happening in global economic relationships that further redefine them, a process that has persisted until today. Industrialization was the primary force in world history in the 19 th  and 20 th  centuries, and still powerfully continues to share the 21 st  century. During the IR, the industrial design (ID) journey began, and today, designers are being called more often to intervene in large and intricate systems of design. This kind of intervention involves the need to understand users and their relationships with each other and their circumstances. At present, the application of a user-centered design process is considered a form of progress because it enables designers to create better products for users by considering the functionality and stylistic characteristics of the products concerning people’s physical and emotional needs. This paper summarizes the history of ID and the consequences of the designer’s figure, offering a broad overview spanning from the IR to today. Keywords: Industrial design; Design; User-centered design; Design thinking; Italian design; Design-driven innovation 1. Introduction e process of design applied to products, which is better known as Industrial design (ID) (which oſten becomes just ID), shows the uniqueness that design is independent of the manufacture: the creative phase of determining and defining a product’s design happens before the making phase of a product. us, the art of ID is represented by the connection between function and form, along with the link between product, users, and environment. Of course, the technical aspects of a product are important, and the industrial designer works on those through usability design and forms connections. is is a unique role because an industrial designer must create and perform design solutions for problems (e.g., form, function, ergonomics, usability, and sustainability). Aſter all, these are the keys that differentiate ID: It is a process of problem-solving that drives innovation and leads to an improved quality of life through advanced products and user experiences. is process is successful due to its ability to close the gap between what is and what is possible still, with an optimistic way of thinking about the future *Corresponding author: Lisa Giusti Gestri (lisa.giustigestri@monash.edu) Citation: Giusti Gestri L. De+Sign = Design thinking or thinking design? A brief overview from the Industrial Revolution to nowadays. Design+. 2024;1(1):3929. doi: 10.36922/dp.3929 Received: June 13, 2024 Accepted: August 28, 2024 Published Online: October 4, 2024 Copyright: © 2024 Author(s). This is an Open-Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons AttributionNoncommercial License, permitting all non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Publisher’s Note: AccScience Publishing remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.