The Communication and research series provides insight into IDSA’s operations, members, and activities. Annual reports in this series provide insight into the organization’s past accomplishments, its current standing, and its future objectives. Newsletters provide a review of IDSA activities and events. Of particular interest are the annual directories, which provide a wealth of information for researchers seeking a starting point for learning about IDSA and the industrial design field at large. Most of the directories include a comprehensive description of industrial design, an annual list of members organized by specialty and by employer, a code of ethics, a historical list of presidents, organizational charts, the members of the board of directors, chapter officers, and a chapter map. The directories also include a listing of industrial design school programs and standards for program accreditation. Finally, the directories include a list of award winners, including Design of the Decade Award winners and Industrial Design Excellence Award winners.

The Communication and research series is also useful for understanding the critical issues that affected the industrial design field during this time period. Industry research focused on design awareness among business leaders, consultant office and business operation, and corporate design group studies. Other topics addressed include the impact of design on the environment, standards for industrial design programs at universities, and employment in the field.

The Communication and research series is divided into five subseries: Directories; Newsletters and publications; Annual reports, press releases, and clippings; Industry research; Miscellaneous reports and databases.

The Directories subseries is arranged alphabetically by directory title, then chronologically. Member directories form the bulk of the subseries. Member directories are available from 1972 through 2007.

The Newsletters and publications subseries is arranged alphabetically by title, then chronologically. IDSA’s monthly newsletter, DesignPerspectives, forms the bulk of the subseries. Issues are available in print from 1984 through the end of the newsletter’s run in 2009. Most issues are present. Digital files used to create each issue are also available. These files usually contain images used in an issue and text files of the articles that appeared. Material used to produce IDSA’s quarterly journal, Innovations, is also present in this subseries. Most of the material is digital copies of advertisements that appeared in issues of Innovations. The print issues of Innovations are not available here. The complete run of Innovations can be found in Hagley’s Published Collections.

The Annual reports, press releases, and clippings subseries mostly contains IDSA’s annual reports. The annual reports appear first in the subseries and are arranged chronologically. The reports run from 1975 through 2008, but the bulk of the annual reports are from 1994 through 2008. Press releases appear second and are arranged chronologically. Press material is mostly from the 1990s and early 2000s. Clippings appear last in the subseries and are arranged chronologically. Print clippings from a variety of sources span from 1957 through 1994; a file of digital articles collected from various sources is focused on the years 2006-2007.

The Industry research subseries is arranged alphabetically by topic, then chronologically. This subseries contains research reports that IDSA created for its membership. Topics include business management, corporate design, design consultancy, education, employment, and the environment. The reports range in date from the 1980s through the early 2000s.

The Miscellaneous reports and databases subseries contains materials that fell outside of the scope of industrial design or were not produced by IDSA. The subseries is arranged alphabetically according to the title of the item.