High School of Art and Design

The High School of Art and Design is a Career and Technical Education high school in Manhattan, New York City. Founded in 1936 as the School of Industrial Art, the school moved to its Midtown Manhattan location on 56th Street, between Second and Third Avenues, in September 2012. High School of Art and Design is operated by the New York City Department of Education.

History

On November 8, 1936, four art teachers began what was to become the High School of Art and Design, the School of Industrial Art, in a former Manhattan elementary school at 257 West 40th Street, which for a time had housed a WPA Federal Theatre Project locale. Initially, they used orange crates and plywood to make storage and desks. One of the co-founders, John B. Kenny, became principal in 1941. The school soon moved to a building on East 79th Street in the Upper East Side, the former annex to the Benjamin Franklin High School. In September 1960, the school changed its name to the High School of Art and Design and moved to 1075 Second Avenue in east Midtown.

Industrial design

Industrial design is a process of design applied to products that are to be manufactured through techniques of mass production. Its key characteristic is that design is separated from manufacture: the creative act of determining and defining a product's form takes place in advance of the physical act of making a product, which consists purely of repeated, often automated, replication. This distinguishes industrial design from craft-based design, where the form of the product is determined by the product's creator at the time of its creation.

All industrial products are the result of a design process, but the nature of this process can take many forms: it can be conducted by an individual or a large team; it can emphasize intuitive creativity or calculated scientific decision-making; and it can be influenced by factors as varied as materials, production processes, business strategy and prevailing social, commercial or aesthetic attitudes. The role of an industrial designer is to create and execute design solutions for problems of form, function, usability, physical ergonomics, marketing, brand development, and sales.