Product design, as we understand it today, is a relatively young discipline. It is generally recognized that it emerged as an activity during the Industrial Revolution of the mid-eighteenth century. Until then, what is now commonly described as craft production had existed as the sole means of producing objects. Makers of objects were the originators of that design, or guardians of a design handed down through generations of designer-makers, often remaining unchanged or unquestioned. Since the emergence of product design as a profession, the discipline has been characterized by a spirit of reform. A number of individual designers, self-styled movements, and writers have attempted to establish its role in society. This chapter examines the profession’s development within a social, theoretical, and cultural framework from 1750 to the present day.