Industrial Design, Institute of

(full title All-Union Scientific Research Institue of Industrial Design of the State Committee on Science and Technology of the Council of Ministers of the USSR), an institute established in Moscow in 1962 for the study of theoretical problems in industrial design and human engineering, methods in design aesthetics, and designs for specific types of mass-produced and individual products of machine building and consumer goods. The institute coordinates research in industrial design and human engineering and directs the work of specialized design bureaus, divisions, and groups in enterprises and the organizations of various ministries and departments.

The institute comprises departments specializing in the theory and methods of design aesthetics, human engineering, product function evaluation, design aesthetics in machine building, integrated problems in equipping residential and public buildings, the decorative properties of new materials and coatings, analysis, and the implementation and dissemination of practical advances in design aesthetics. It has branches in Leningrad, Sverdlovsk, Khabarovsk, Kiev, Kharkov, Minsk, Tbilisi, Yerevan, and Vilnius and operates experimental production facilities in Moscow. The institute has regular and correspondence graduate programs, and its academic council has the right to accept candidates’ dissertations for defense. The institute publishes the monthly information bulletin Tekhnicheskaia estetika (Industrial Design), collections of articles, procedural recommendations, and informative materials.