Israel’s creativity in design has gained the country a reputation for being highly marketable and competitive. Israeli designers are today organized and business-like and are being sought by the global community for their innovation and creativity. The Israeli economy demands design excellence. The country is strongly export-oriented and dependent on its advanced technologies sold on world markets. These include a wide range of electronic and information technology products, medical devices, especially diagnostic equipment and defense and security products for use by governments, industry and private consumers. Creative and innovative Israeli designers play a significant role in advancing Israel’s local high-tech start-up and media companies, as well as promoting international and multinational companies worldwide.

The concept of design spans all industries. Israeli designers have had breakthrough achievements in communications, interactive media, home and office products, medical devices, military, jewelry, textiles, fashion, toys and graphic design for advertising and branding. Israeli industrial designers collaborate with engineering teams to produce original and creative concepts that are both functional and appropriate for manufacturing. Graphic designers support corporations by communicating verbal and visual information, through corporate identity and branding applications.

Highlights       

·         Israel’s design market is divided into:

§         Visual communications – branding, advertising, packaging, corporate identity (not including advertising agencies)

§         Website and user-interface design (GUI, UI)

§         Industrial design services

·         Israel has more than 3,000 active independent design professionals. There are 400 small businesses and thirty large well-established companies, many of them working with overseas corporations.

·         There are number of well known design schools in Israel:

§         Bezalel Academy of Art and Design, which has provided education and training in design and arts since 1906.

§         Holon Institute of Technology offers bachelors programs in industrial design, visual communications and art & design.

§         Shenkar College of Engineering and Design in Ramat Gan includes departments in jewelry, fashion, graphic, textile and industrial design and boasts a center for digital model making

§         Jerusalem’s Hadassah College, with roots reaching back to 1922, has a school of visual communication and a school of design and communication,  

·         Among the global companies that have recently expressed interest in Israeli design are Mercedes Technology, Samsung and Siemens.

·         A large number of major corporations are engaged in R&D in Israel. For example, IBM, Motorola, Intel, Google and Nokia, use Israeli designers for their products.

·         In 2008, 4 Israeli designers were presented with awards for product design by the international "Red Dot Design Award," one of the largest and most renowned design competitions in the world: Pure Soda Machine designed by 12D; Connex500 Multi-Material 3D Printing System designed by 12D; Wave Cleaning Robot designed by Mobius Design; Propeller Ceiling Fan designed by Yaakov Kaufman.

·         Two young Israeli fashion designers from Shenkar College recently won the first place in the Art & Fashion De La Villa fashion competition, which took place in Bilbao, Spain.

·         Some recognized companies and their designers include:

§         Hisense, a Chinese electronic manufacturer (~$6.7 billion revenue in 2007), used OPEN design for its branding.

§         Muller, a leading European dairy product manufacturer based in Germany, used the services of Adlai & Partners. The company prepared the packaging designs for Muller's products sold in Israel and Eastern Europe.

§         Altec Lansing, developer and manufacturer of speaker systems, used industrial designs created by Nekuda, as well as for the sound system design for Apple’s iPod.

§         Evoka, a UK jewelry company, used Adlai & Partners for its branding.

§         Sandisk, an American multinational data storage cooperation, used I2D for its industrial designs.

§         Orca, an Israeli developer of enhanced entertainment services for TV, used Netica to design its website and user interface.

§         Israeli Ministry of Tourism used the services of the Israeli company Open

§         Israir Airlines used the services of Sandra Shekel for creating its cooperate identity.

§         El Al Airlines used the services of Neo Group for creating its cooperate identity.