So guys I have an option to go to SCAD, Savannah, Nottingham Trent or UNI OF Southhampton… Now I am a product/industrial design student. Which one of these colleges would be best if I’m going for a study abroad program for about 3-4 months. I will be in my final year Also the Visa in UK will be a tourist visa basically as it is a short stay so I cannot work, I’m guessing But which college will be the best to go to in terms of coursework, networking and possible internships? I have a relative in the UK, no relatives but friends in the US. Is there anyone currently studying in any of these? Help!!

Looking for your favorite trade show to go to as an industrial designer. ICFF, Milan Design Week to name a few... which ones are most exiting? What are the nice underrated gems to not miss?

I've been thinking about it last 2 days. Lots of successful people are all about minimalism, and we love the clean look of phones and minimalist devices. I used to think beauty for human came from nature, like leaves and stuff (shoutout to kurzgesagt). But if our beauty understanding comes from natural shapes, why are we into minimalist stuff too and why are we not inspire from nature directly?

Hey there, I hope you're all doing well.

I have been sketching cars since I was about eight or nine, but I never taken any kind of course. I also haven't been seriously trying to work on reflection, proportions or angles. I abandoned seeking a design career as I'm now a dentist but I'm still keeping it as a hobby.

Can I find any light, free courses to work on the aspects I've mentioned before, so maybe I can take this hobby up further ?

Can't find anything online. If you know a manufacturer feel free to let us know!

hello everyone, i have seen interesting patterns made with grasshopper but i have never used it, as i use only solidworks for all my designs. i want to take a leap with grasshopper but would it be possible to make these patterns on a model from solidworks?...and how if thats possible?

Hi

4+ years of Ex in fashion accessory currently laid off from work. (US based) I am in the stage where I’m building a portfolio for my next job. I’m not looking forward to going back to designing accessories again. Wanting to do something different, looking forward to transition to a different industry.

I’m not sure what my strategy should be for building portfolio for my next employer. The work I did seem a bit different from consumer electronics or/ robotics field. I am looking for advice from a professional designers.

I am thinking to build two personal projects 1. Robotic related 2. Consumer electronic device

My strategy is to showcase the interest and show ability to design projects in these field since my projects are majority accessory based products. But now, I’m so confused what to even design a robot into, I’ve been doing research about the robots but I’m not sure how deeply I should take the project to finish because I don’t really have a whole year to finish a project. And I am not sure if I even should be showing an engineering part. But then I also don’t want it to be only aesthetic driven. - The point is that to understand the role for industrial designer in robotic field seems very vague. I’m not sure what the hiring managers would want to see from the candidate.

2. Would there be difficulties from employer/ hiring manager’s view that the previous experience of designing accessories would be something that would be not preferable candidate? Please give me advice if you think there would be something that you think there is a better strategy.

Thanks in advance.

I just finished my high school im taking a gap and joining design school in india after i clear the entrance

The thing is im intrested in either industrial or cinematography And well im confused here at least from my background its really frowned upon but i was able to convince my parents for this course And well coming to the main aspect i wanna move to europe after my bachelors in design In this pre uni time and well in further times what all should i focus on should i be prepared that ill have to do masters in this course or can you get jobs there with a bdes and if yes how can i maximse my chances of being a sufficent earning member in this creative field abroad

I'm currently working on updating my portfolio and resume due to the potential for layoffs coming soon. I'm curious to see how others are formatting their resume in terms of order of information and what all to include. I currently have a 'designed' resume slide in my portfolio with your typical info but with a simple color scheme and a skill proficiency section but I've learned recently that a lot of automated HR systems don't read these properly.

Hi everyone! I am doing a school project to re-design a cocktail shaker and I would like to ask if anyone here would share their user journey and pain points (if you've owned and used a cocktail shaker before). Why here? Well I wanted to hear from fellow designer's perspective and way of explaining the problem they're facing. No pressure but any response would be very much appreciated!

Say you wanted to make a product, say weights / barbell stands. You couldn't get much simpler than that, there's a H shape hollow metal base, the long hollow stands and the part the barbell sits on.

How viable would it be to build your own foundry, casts , molds etc and actually make the parts yourself, would it boil down to the costs of the raw metal materials such as aluminum?

If 'Others', please specify in the comments

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I’m searching for the name of a certain type of design language, and a comprehensive description of what the use of this language implies.

In my naivety, I would coin it - Swiss Engineering.

The graphic and product design seems to make use of thin Helvetica-esk fonts, minimal colour, and narrow lines. Products are usually very minimal, orderly, and have subtle pops of colour.

The style also tends to use numbers a lot - things like “001”, rather than “1” - and plays a lot with text proportions.

Some brands that use this style are Polestar, Teenage Engineering, On Running, even the Swiss passport.

I would call it maybe, utilitarian minimalist - but I’m sure there’s a better description.

If you can think of any other brands that fit this category, please let me know so I can study them further.

I want to make a piece of gym equipment. It wont be too complex I don't think. I have pretty much no engineering experience so it would be a significant learning curve. What are minimum requirements needed for a manufacturer to make my product, they would require engineering drawings, is that it?

Also say I designed it and it wasn't safe or could be done more efficiently at a lower cost, what would the manufacturer likely say, would they refuse to build it and recommend a better design, or how does it work?

Is working from home common in ID? Just curious

Hi everyone,

I’m seeking insights on using metal injection molding for a project. Does anyone have direct experience with this technique? I’d like to know the pros and cons compared to other production methods.

Thanks!

Been receiving these emails from theboringmarketer and today’s lessons was quite cool.

We’ve mostly been writing about our work and some thoughts here and there. It’s important to also provide some very useful (free) tools.

What are some free tools that could help them? And in return get our name out there as theboringmarketer suggest?

Thank you!

I am just finishing my first full year majoring in product design at a small local college. My main draw to this school was that I could live at home while attending and I was given a full-ride scholarship, making my education there completely free. I got out of pretty much all of my gen ed classes with the credits I earned in high school so I can graduate at least a semester early if I do the bare minimum of credits per semester. To many I think this would be a dream come true, but I feel like even at no cost I'm not getting my moneys worth. I'm only one year in but looking at the required classes for my degree I don't think I will be as prepared and experienced as students at bigger colleges. The degree seems focused on the manufacturing/engineering side, consisting of mostly manufacturing classes, with the only purely product design classes focusing on solidworks and other similar CAD software which has been a walk in the park for me. Looking through this subreddit and other places online, other students have portfolios and projects that look really professional and advanced. I that your most valuable experience comes from on the job, but I feel like I need to be doing more right now.

To the experienced designers out there, will I be fine if finish this degree, or is it a waste of time? Any advice and guidance is appreciated.

Hey, so I’m an industrial designer whose been working the in the field full time for 6 or 7 years now, and for the first time since college I need to put together a portfolio. Would anyone be willing to share what your portfolio looks like as someone who has been in a field for awhile? I kind of want to know what I can get away with doing or not doing. I have a ton of work to show and plenty of sketches and whatnot, but I’ll mainly be talking to potential employers through connections, so the portfolio is more of checkbox and validation of my work claims than it is an entry to getting an interview.

Also, I imagine it would probably be pretty helpful for the lots of younger people on here asking for portfolio advice to see some seasoned ones as reference.

That being said, you may have some NDA/privacy issues and you may not want to post them directly with an open link. But if you’re open to DMing me it I would greatly appreciate it!

Thanks so much!

Looking for a new job in product design after working 7 years in the industry. Any good online portfolios that I can use as inspiration to get started? Not looking for student portfolios but rather from portfolios from people with similar years of experience.

Hi guys - can anyone tell what the process is for fabric backing plastic parts in what appears to be injection moulds? I can't seem to find any information for how this is done despite it being quite a prevalent design trend for a long time now. I'm specifically looking to understand how they do it on a mass scale in the tech market. Is it done in conjunction with the moulding process or is the fabric somehow laminated on as a post process? Ive seen it done via thermo forming/pressing foam parts but cant seem to find anything on how it is applied to plastic.

Any info would be really appreciated. Examples of the type of thing I'm referring to:

https://preview.redd.it/5j1ntd4c8fwc1.jpg?width=212&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=494167176e261634752ccef13014f984e558054d

https://preview.redd.it/x96v3b4c8fwc1.jpg?width=564&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=7d5bd4a7538d5a63660229350c4cf50b481d0c97

https://preview.redd.it/s0gjhe4c8fwc1.jpg?width=563&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=cacc94730e3c9127df8100d23312525776756bc8

https://preview.redd.it/9gnlmb4c8fwc1.jpg?width=540&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=08029e85f720b22777d398385de137064f13d8d2

Found this cool recording of using painting tool with AI for concept ideation. Does this look like a valid workflow

https://youtu.be/iK2mms5uLQk?si=GSg-n20DuP3rLzos

Comments?

Hello all, I've applied to several unis for design masters program and I've got offer letters from Coventry, Greenwhich, Kingston and Loughborough.

I want to know how good is Coventry for doing Masters in automotive design, I'm a bit sceptical about that after seeing lot of negative reviews.

Throughout my years in college, I feel like all of our professors always sold me/my classmates the dream that design consultancies were the coolest places to be in ID (fast-paced environment where you can learn much faster than in-house, opportunity to work on wide range of products, etc. etc.). I'm currently a senior at UC DAAP and fortunately I was able to co-op at 2 agencies in SF and a few in-house teams as well, but what I experienced in agencies was honestly really far from what I expected.

The studios that I was with are very reputable and respected in the industry—I was initially super excited and grateful to be able to be at both. The first one was just straight up toxic—they DNGAF about mentoring me, made me feel stupid for asking questions, and I saw the full-time designers would have to stay way after dark some weekdays and often come in on weekends. The second one was actually a much better managed team; but I was surprised that despite that, there seemed to be this hierarchy culture in both where interns/junior designers are kind of not only stuck at the bottom of the totem pole doing small tasks/menial work, but are also treated like they are less than.. Which I understand menial work is often necessary in smaller work environments, but no one likes to feel like they are the "lowest" iykwim. I also don't really enjoy bouncing around tons of different projects at the same time because it feels like my attention is divided and all the work I'm doing is surface level. I felt much more empowered in my in-house experiences because corporate teams tend to push leadership/initiative and allow even interns to take on whole projects with tons of autonomy. It's also nice to be treated as an equal, not as a subordinate.

Despite these experiences pointing me in the direction of going in-house, I feel lots of pressure from professionals I've spoken to who are determined to keep pushing the agency > in-house pipeline. Every agency I've worked with I've always overheard coworkers shit talking corporate designers for living the "cushy life" and being "lazy". But I personally disagree with this sentiment, having seen how hard-working many in-house designers are.

I will be graduating next month and will be taking a break before deciding what my next steps are, but I would love to hear any thoughts you guys have on this topic. Do you think it's better to tough out the agency life as a junior designer, or should I follow my gut to go in-house?

Hello all, I did my bachelor's in Transportation design and I was planning to do masters in this year or the next year. I've applied to Coventry University and got an offer letter from there, however, I'm a bit sceptical about that university. I heard that it doesn't have that reputation which it previously had. Is that true, what are your opinion about Coventry?

I need to complete an internship to graduate college, and its been absolutely impossible to find one.

I focused largely in furniture during college, as my school has a furniture design focus, however it seems there are few to no furniture design internships, and landing a general product design internship seems impossible given my lack of projects in the field.

As I've been out of school for a semester due to having no other classes to take except for the mandatory internship course, I not longer have access to rhino, solidworks, keyshot or the like. which I cannot afford on my own to rework projects for my portfolio, or even do more projects.

I can still have my CC but that only allows me to move things around in my portfolio.

I've gotten two rejection notices from my application, as my skill set doesn't match the roles, and haven't heard back from nearly twenty other job postings, of which I likey expect the same response if any at all.

Any suggestions? I'm starting to feel hopeless and like I'll never graduate.

Hello, how is everyone?

I'm working on a project for a Uni course and I've hit a bit of a roadblock in my prototyping process and could really use some guidance. I've been doing prototypes for a mechanism and despite my best efforts, my prototypes haven't been turning out as planned. It's been frustrating, and I'm feeling a bit stuck.

I know that it is common in prototyping that you fail and try again, but I'm feeling that this project exceeds my abilities and I need to start over from scratch, and I have like a week to try to correct it and make it work, so I'm reaching out to all of you for some advice and encouragement. How do you deal with creative blocks in prototyping? What strategies do you use to keep pushing forward when things aren't going as expected?

Thanks in advance for your help!