The COVID-19 pandemic affected many industries, some of which were more adversely affected than others.
From healthcare to manufacturing to education, many industries came to a standstill, and many businesses did not recover. However, the break also allowed industries to contemplate many of their processes, including design.
The post-pandemic world is shaping to be quite different from the pre-pandemic world, especially in industrial design. There are many trends you can expect to continue post-pandemic, including:
Design That Promotes Personal Space
Before the pandemic, it was usual to see offices crammed with people, with the only personal space being the three walls and cubic meters of a cubicle.
The same goes for customer organization in business establishments. However, the pandemic has made social distancing very important as communicable airborne diseases, especially virus-based ones, have proven to be devastating. Therefore, you can expect an industrial design that not only observes but also promotes personal space in the workplace.
It will change the entire dynamic of the workplace and business. Companies must ensure they take personal space into account when they design an office or business premises.
More Robust Digital Infrastructure
Before the pandemic, companies had good digital infrastructures, but it was usually enough to handle working at the office and a bit more for off-site work. However, the pandemic showed companies they needed to enhance their infrastructure because many people had to start working from home.
Many companies had to ensure that their employees could perform the same work at home as they did at the office, which sometimes meant giving them laptops and other materials for home use.
It also meant they had to improve their database access, cybersecurity, and other aspects of their digital infrastructure, a trend that will seemingly continue.
Balancing The Digital And Natural
Human interaction pre-pandemic was very different as there was a lot of free face-to-face interaction.
Most industrial designers pre-pandemic were only focused on digital enhancement for efficiency. However, since the pandemic, a lot of communication has become digital, leading to a dramatic rise in digital communication,which is not as natural as face-to-face communication. Moreover, many industrial aspects of business have become digital, with self-service stores and the increase in ecommerce being the best examples.
We lost a balance between digital and natural aspects of human life, and many are trying to restore it. Post-pandemic industrial designers will have to consider how to balance the digital and natural.
Promoting people to get in touch with their humanity will not be easy, but it is achievable.
Planning for Longer Timescales Due to Supply Chain Issues
Another aspect of industry that the pandemic has severely compromised is the supply chain. Few people tried to improve supply chain efficiency pre-pandemic, but the pandemic reversed all their efforts.
Supply chain issues have plagued all industries since the pandemic and caused a significant industry shift. From manufacturers to retailers, industrial designers will have to plan for longer supply chains due to the issues they face.
In construction, the use of construction management software will help deal with supply chain shortfalls, and they can try Archdesk Solutions.
The same goes for other industries worldwide, which will have to use similar mechanisms to account for supply chain shortages and time delays. Delivery times will change, so businesses and customers alike will have to adapt to the changes, which will typically mean longer timescales.
Much has changed due to and since the pandemic, especially in industry. Industrial designers are changing the way things happened pre-pandemic, and trends are emerging due to the changes. The above trends only scratch the surface as a lot of change in industrial design is bound to continue.
