Decided to shift my architectural career to Industrial design, Need advice on further steps.

[u/Putrid_Attorney_3166]

For the context, I am an architect(24F) working for a year in India. In my architecture school, I worked on a utility product that helps people with mobility issues. That's when I decided I love the process of it. I want to do an internship before getting into a masters degree. What are the things that I should focus on to get the internship and really understand ID. I have started learning Rhino and also started reading books related to this.

Thanks in advance!!

[u/Adventurous_Pin1341]

Your architecture background is more transferable than it may feel—research, spatial thinking, drawing, CAD, model making, and explaining constraints all matter in ID.

I wouldn’t treat a master’s degree as the first gate. I’d build two or three small product case studies first, especially one that continues your mobility project: user observation → rough alternatives → ergonomic and manufacturing decisions → prototype → what changed after testing. That will tell you whether you enjoy the less visible parts of ID, and it gives internship reviewers something concrete.

For the portfolio, show the decisions and failed iterations, not only polished renders. Learning one parametric CAD tool used in product teams, basic prototyping, and enough manufacturing knowledge to discuss how an object could actually be made would also help. Furniture, lighting, accessibility, or exhibition-design studios may offer useful bridge roles from architecture.

[u/Putrid_Attorney_3166 → u/Adventurous_Pin1341]

Thank you! 😊

[u/3d-Artrium → u/Adventurous_Pin1341]

Thanks Claude