"There are currently many emerging technologies in the areas of communication and computer-aided design that can play a role in aiding the designer or design team with their work in the field of industrial design. Successful adoption of these new technologies by the field of industrial design may depend upon identification and understanding of these technologies, knowledge of current practices within the field, knowledge of areas of potential use and early adoption, [and] identification of common components of a design process that can be used as a framework to propose and adapt new tools and technologies. The first section of this thesis begins by presenting a brief overview of several emerging technologies representing a range of new capabilities that could be molded into tools for the designer/design team in their development work. The second section of this thesis explores daily practice in the field. Designers at a variety of corporate and private design firms were interviewed to obtain a snapshot of current practices and insights regarding future direction for the field of industrial design. The wide variety of designers interviewed also provided valuable input for identifying common processes and methodologies. The third section introduces a high level common design process model based on input from the design practice interviews. The common model is used as a framework for proposals in the last section. The fourth and last section represents the main focus of this thesis. Here, each component of the design model is represented individually with proposals for new tools and/or methodologies to help the designer with development, evaluation and delivery of their creative work"--Abstract.