ICSID recently held their 29th General Assembly in South Korea, where they announced a momentous change: No longer will they be known as the International Council of Societies of Industrial Design. Instead, they're re-branding themselves the World Design Organization, effective 2016.

So what's up, why drop "Industrial Design" from their title? Are they selling us ID'ers out? Spreading their umbrella to include those animals in Graphic, Fashion and Web? Apparently not, according to ICSID—er, WDO: "The main objective of the new World Design Organization," they write, "is to re-position Industrial Design as a catalyst for positive change in the world." (Capitals theirs.)

It appears then that it's largely a branding issue, and they point out that their global events (World Design Impact Prize, World Design Capital, World Industrial Design Day) all already have the word "World" in them. "We will begin [the changeover] with a programme audit and new branding to introduce the World Design Organization," they state, "and ensure industrial design remains a core component."

It's also possible that they grew tired of being confused with the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes. How lame must that conference be.

ICSID/WDO expects the rebranding to be completed by 2017, just in time to celebrate their 60th anniversary. They'll surely be holding some type of competition before then to come up with a new logo, so you graphic designers may want to get a jump on designing one. (And okay, fine, I'm sorry I called you an animal.)