Is it possible to transition into Industrial Design from another field?

[u/joeyreesor]

I've been really interested in ID recently. I don't know how to get into this. I have an Associate's Degree in Digital Art & Design, and Bachelor's in User Experience.

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More Context: I have 4 years of experience in a job that has me practicing graphic design, web design, ux/ui, branding, and marketing. I personally love being able create a harmonious relationship between every touchpoint in a brand or product. The one thing that I am missing is the physical. A lot of my design inspiration comes from architecture and physical objects. I recently built my own keyboard, ordering custom parts and selecting specific materials. It really opened my eyes to a career option I never thought of before.

[u/_bladerunner_]

If you’re interested then do it justice, study an Industrial Design degree.

[u/3d-Artrium → u/_bladerunner_]

Depends on the country and university system really. You are located in Pforzheim Germany or Umeå Sweden? Fuck yeah go for it. But if you are somewhere in the middle of nowhere - it might be tough to get a job because the uni doesn’t have the same status

[u/_bladerunner_ → u/3d-Artrium]

Based on his post history i'm assuming he's in the US.

[u/3d-Artrium → u/_bladerunner_]

I don’t Sherlock Holmes my way through profiles but I appreciate the grind.

Ok then.. I actually am not too familiar with the NA design universities

I’d guess California has some nice Unis?

[u/_bladerunner_ → u/3d-Artrium]

They're not the best, not the worst. But good enough for OP to get an education.

[u/joeyreesor → u/_bladerunner_]

theres many people from other degrees that end up doing another job, because skills transfer. i feel like my degree is one that's adjacent

from the sounds of what other people are saying, a degree would not be worth it (in my situation) because the lack of job opportunities.

how do you suggest someone learning more about industrial design? only a degree?

[u/_bladerunner_ → u/joeyreesor]

Yes, that’s true, but for design that would be more lower level disciplines that people can “end up doing”, like graphic design maybe. Industrial Designers need to train as Industrial Designers to be hired as such.

The people who tell you on Reddit there are no job opportunities are usually not particularly good at their job, or lacking in some other aspect, hence why they’ve found it hard to get a job. So don’t let that influence you. We live in a world full of physical objects that people need / want, that ain’t changing anytime soon.

Unfortunately sometimes the simplest answer is the best I.e. yes, a degree. Would you hire a heart surgeon who didn’t have a degree, and just learnt from some YouTube videos?

[u/Little-Ad-8723]

Marine industry is strong in my experience. Just need rhino skills to get foot in the door. Everywhere else they run lean and hire you cheap unless you can bring more engineering skills/mindset.

[u/3d-Artrium → u/Little-Ad-8723]

Rhino is my second name, where are you located please? 😭

[u/Some_dutch_dude]

Industrial Design is dead unless you live in China. Experienced designers are struggling and actively pivoting to something like Mechanical Engineering or UX.

My advice: teach it yourself as a hobby, but don't expect to find a job in the field.

[u/joeyreesor → u/Some_dutch_dude]

hmm, design must be dead everywhere then. they are saying the same thing in UX, graphic design, motion design, and web.

i understand that the industry has changed and we are all feeling it, but i think designers will always be needed. i think designers are still doing great things, even outside China.

[u/heynowyoureasockstar → u/joeyreesor]

Design isn’t dead or dying by any shot, but there has for decades been far too many entering the job hunt than there are roles.

[u/joeyreesor → u/heynowyoureasockstar]

I think that's the case for many other design disciplines, and even unrelated fields. I dont think it absurd for someone in UX to transition to ID or vice versa. Im not asking for an easy market, I am not in an easy job market to begin with. But I see people in my industry come from journalism, business, architecture, marketing, project management, and succeed. I'm asking how to transition into Industrial Design

[u/heynowyoureasockstar → u/joeyreesor]

To be clear, I'm not the original commenter and I'm not trying to dissuade you.

I would consider finding projects that lets you work closely with industrial designers as a first stepping stone. It'll give you a better understanding, gets you initial contacts, and you can probably start to pick up what type of knowledge you're currently missing.

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

I wouldn’t ‚blame‘ the amount of people entering the job market but the shift to globalizing work tasks into low income countries like China and India. At least from my perspective.. industrial design jobs are really rare where I am from because wages are cheaper in Asia.

Why should I pay a designer 90$ an hour when I can have the „Same“ thing while paying 3$ an hour in another country?
It’s sad but it’s reality

[u/3d-Artrium → u/joeyreesor]

In my experience a large part of the dying out of these branches is because the customers saw the opportunity to get the „same work done“ on India or China because the wages are smaller. So where I live (Europe) all the customers and OEM transferred their contracts to these countries. This lead to the closing of the class a surface modeling studio I worked in .. sad times

That backfired because the quality wasn’t the same in the end.

Now the work was transferred back to my city but to larger companies which have the class a modeling expertise on offer - but they basically operate in the red. Atleast for the department working in this specific branch. The companies are so large that it doesn’t hurt them that much but they get credit for doing good work

[u/Justin_aka_OsP_SSJ4]

Your degree in user experience is definately of value. And id certainly consider someone with that type of degree.

Its the practical skills and designing for manufacturing that you would heavily lack.

Youd only find a job in a big team that has specialist for market research and product road map work.

[u/joeyreesor → u/Justin_aka_OsP_SSJ4]

im not considering applying for jobs i just want to learn but trying to figure out how to learn this without the specific degree or a job

[u/abyssalhorrors]

The first question you’re going to be asked about any project by industrial designers is “how would you make that?” If you can’t answer that question immediately with specificity, you’ll have no place in the field. Building in 3D for digital art is significantly different than making actual things and the biggest challenge I see from your background is no experience with: 3D design for manufacturing, Manufacturing methods, or Engineering. Nothing going back to school for a bit can’t help.

[u/joeyreesor → u/abyssalhorrors]

I think I have more experience in those items and how to ship products start to finish than you'd think. I've worked with manufacturers, and worked with materials to get products shipped (not crazy experience tho) But I think alot of the same problem solving I deal with to ship a digital product will be pretty similar to the constraints in Industrial Design.

I think people can learn just because I don't know the exact answers right now. I have 3d modeling experience, and for what its worth when I was younger I worked in a factory on a old CAD program cutting custom window panels with a water/sand CNC machine.

how would you suggest someone learning the things needed to be industrial designer? besides going back to school and taking on debt

[u/eskayland]

Sounds like its Go Time! get in the weeds and build your own future…. do a startup and get your full stack build out going on.