An investigation on the concepts of style and form in industrial design education studio courses: The case of Turkey

Today, good design must engage with the user, convey the right message, be attractive and make a difference in the market race. The sensory and emotional effects of the products on the users, the focus on the aesthetic and visual features of the products have begun to be influential in the purchasing decisions of the users, and the external appearance of the products has begun to be as important as the functionality and other elements. This situation has increased the motivation to better understand the concepts of style and form in the field of industrial design. The concept of style is generally defined as a certain style of expression; however, there is no clear definition of the concept of style in the design and industrial design literature. Although the concept of form is defined as the visual form of the content, no agreed definition has been found. The observation made on the use of the words 'style' and 'form' interchangeably in the field has been the main motivation of this study. Although the importance of the subject is often emphasized in the literature, it has been observed that the studies on the place of style and form concepts in industrial design education are limited. In this study, definitions and interpretations of the concepts of style and form from various fields of art and design were compiled, and the similarities and differences between these two concepts were tried to be determined. In the later stages of the study, semi-structured interviews were conducted with academicians, students and designers in order to measure the perception of style and form concepts in the field of industrial design in Turkey. The resulting data revealed information about the place and perception of form and style concepts in industrial design education in Turkey.