Breaking up is hard to do, but perhaps it will be good for design. Japanese manufacturing and technology giant Fujitsu will be spinning off their design division, creating Fujitsu Design Limited.

Utilizing the expertise that Fujitsu's design divisions have developed in areas ranging from consumer products to industrial products and for design functions including broad-based product and function design, user interface design, office and retail space design, the new independent design company will offer consulting in IT industrial design and universal design to Fujitsu Group companies as well as a broad range of outside customers.

The Fujitsu design department has been around since 1961, and their comprehensive "design policy"--something like a mission statement for ID'ers--can be summed up in four points: "human-centered design," "accommodating diversity," "synthesizing diverse design fields," and "usable by all people." Details of the policy are here, and details of the spin-off are here.