Becoming an Industrial/Product Designer
Hi everyone,
I'm currently in Year 12, so beginning to start the process of deciding upon possible university courses. I'm really interested in getting into industrial design as a career.
From my experience looking around, although there are product/industrial design courses out there, they don't (generally) seem to be at particularly high-ranking universities and the entry requirements aren't as high as something like mechanical engineering. I'm pretty sure I would be able to get these higher grades at A Level, so would it be best to aim for the most academic course possible within the broad field of design/engineering, or focus on something more relevant, that doesn't have such stringent requirements? Would mechanical engineering be a suitable course to lead into more design-based jobs?
I go to a school where a huge emphasis is placed on grades and academia, and we're constantly being told that Oxbridge is the 'holy grail' of education - is it worth sacrificing going to such highly regarded places, to gain a degree which may (or may not?) be more helpful for my career plans?
I'm currently in Year 12, so beginning to start the process of deciding upon possible university courses. I'm really interested in getting into industrial design as a career.
From my experience looking around, although there are product/industrial design courses out there, they don't (generally) seem to be at particularly high-ranking universities and the entry requirements aren't as high as something like mechanical engineering. I'm pretty sure I would be able to get these higher grades at A Level, so would it be best to aim for the most academic course possible within the broad field of design/engineering, or focus on something more relevant, that doesn't have such stringent requirements? Would mechanical engineering be a suitable course to lead into more design-based jobs?
I go to a school where a huge emphasis is placed on grades and academia, and we're constantly being told that Oxbridge is the 'holy grail' of education - is it worth sacrificing going to such highly regarded places, to gain a degree which may (or may not?) be more helpful for my career plans?
Original post by bewster
Hi everyone,
I'm currently in Year 12, so beginning to start the process of deciding upon possible university courses. I'm really interested in getting into industrial design as a career.
From my experience looking around, although there are product/industrial design courses out there, they don't (generally) seem to be at particularly high-ranking universities and the entry requirements aren't as high as something like mechanical engineering. I'm pretty sure I would be able to get these higher grades at A Level, so would it be best to aim for the most academic course possible within the broad field of design/engineering, or focus on something more relevant, that doesn't have such stringent requirements? Would mechanical engineering be a suitable course to lead into more design-based jobs?
I go to a school where a huge emphasis is placed on grades and academia, and we're constantly being told that Oxbridge is the 'holy grail' of education - is it worth sacrificing going to such highly regarded places, to gain a degree which may (or may not?) be more helpful for my career plans?
I'm currently in Year 12, so beginning to start the process of deciding upon possible university courses. I'm really interested in getting into industrial design as a career.
From my experience looking around, although there are product/industrial design courses out there, they don't (generally) seem to be at particularly high-ranking universities and the entry requirements aren't as high as something like mechanical engineering. I'm pretty sure I would be able to get these higher grades at A Level, so would it be best to aim for the most academic course possible within the broad field of design/engineering, or focus on something more relevant, that doesn't have such stringent requirements? Would mechanical engineering be a suitable course to lead into more design-based jobs?
I go to a school where a huge emphasis is placed on grades and academia, and we're constantly being told that Oxbridge is the 'holy grail' of education - is it worth sacrificing going to such highly regarded places, to gain a degree which may (or may not?) be more helpful for my career plans?
Hi,
This is completely dependent on you, really. You need to decide what your main objectives for your career are. I studied Product Design Technology (BSc). The main reason I chose this course was because it had a solid technical basis and also taught things like aesthetics and creativity.
From my experience as someone now working in the design/engineering industry, I would definitely advise you to do a course which is fairly technical. Design in general is a technical profession. Taking a course which is purely creative will not prepare you or qualify you for a career in product/industrial design.
I have recently taken on a job which is highly technical to improve my experience in engineering. If you want to earn good money, experience in engineering is the way forward. Mechanical Engineers/Mechanical Design Engineers can earn much better money than product designers and engineering experience is what employers look for when hiring.
If you are a creative person and can show this to a high standard already, I would go for a degree in mechanical engineering. Really your aim should be to be a creative engineer. However, my creativity improved greatly by studying product design and I think I benefitted from studying it.
I hope this helps.
Original post by bewster
Thanks for your helpful response, am I right in thinking you're saying that choosing an engineering course will be just as beneficial (if not more so) for going into a slightly more creative career, compared with a design based course?
do what you love, if you want to do engineering then do it but be prepared to work
however if u feel product design is where ur heart really lies then go for it, you dont want to spend 3 or 4 years at uni studying something u dont like
Asked this question to a lecturer at the University of Nottingham and got the following response:
"If you want to work as an Industrial Designer, you will need to study Industrial design or Product Design at University. Studying another subject such as Mechanical engineering will prevent you from working as one. My best analogy is if you wanted to become an architect you would not study Civil Engineering – they are different professions with different knowledge and skill sets.
There are many Product /Industrial Design degree’s offered within the UK. Most of them are at the “New” Universities (formally Polytechnics) Most of them are Bachelor of Arts Qualifications. Some of these universities may not have the reputation or require the highest A level scores but do offer some of the top courses in this field in the country, one so in the world.
Due to the popularity of these courses more of the older, higher status Universities are starting to offer these subjects. Some are Excellent (ours for example!!) while others are truly terrible (in my opinion).
In my opinion the top courses in the country are:
Northumbria University, The University of Nottingham, Loughborough University (Department of Design) and Brunel University.
Other courses with a good reputation are:
Nottingham Trent University (Furniture), De-Montfort University, Sheffield Hallum and Ravensbourn collage of art and design.
I am basing my judgments on my 18 years as an Industrial Designer and my 10 years at The University of Nottingham."
Now I'm just twice as confused...
"If you want to work as an Industrial Designer, you will need to study Industrial design or Product Design at University. Studying another subject such as Mechanical engineering will prevent you from working as one. My best analogy is if you wanted to become an architect you would not study Civil Engineering – they are different professions with different knowledge and skill sets.
There are many Product /Industrial Design degree’s offered within the UK. Most of them are at the “New” Universities (formally Polytechnics) Most of them are Bachelor of Arts Qualifications. Some of these universities may not have the reputation or require the highest A level scores but do offer some of the top courses in this field in the country, one so in the world.
Due to the popularity of these courses more of the older, higher status Universities are starting to offer these subjects. Some are Excellent (ours for example!!) while others are truly terrible (in my opinion).
In my opinion the top courses in the country are:
Northumbria University, The University of Nottingham, Loughborough University (Department of Design) and Brunel University.
Other courses with a good reputation are:
Nottingham Trent University (Furniture), De-Montfort University, Sheffield Hallum and Ravensbourn collage of art and design.
I am basing my judgments on my 18 years as an Industrial Designer and my 10 years at The University of Nottingham."
Now I'm just twice as confused...
Original post by bewster
Asked this question to a lecturer at the University of Nottingham and got the following response:
"If you want to work as an Industrial Designer, you will need to study Industrial design or Product Design at University. Studying another subject such as Mechanical engineering will prevent you from working as one. My best analogy is if you wanted to become an architect you would not study Civil Engineering – they are different professions with different knowledge and skill sets.
There are many Product /Industrial Design degree’s offered within the UK. Most of them are at the “New” Universities (formally Polytechnics) Most of them are Bachelor of Arts Qualifications. Some of these universities may not have the reputation or require the highest A level scores but do offer some of the top courses in this field in the country, one so in the world.
Due to the popularity of these courses more of the older, higher status Universities are starting to offer these subjects. Some are Excellent (ours for example!!) while others are truly terrible (in my opinion).
In my opinion the top courses in the country are:
Northumbria University, The University of Nottingham, Loughborough University (Department of Design) and Brunel University.
Other courses with a good reputation are:
Nottingham Trent University (Furniture), De-Montfort University, Sheffield Hallum and Ravensbourn collage of art and design.
I am basing my judgments on my 18 years as an Industrial Designer and my 10 years at The University of Nottingham."
Now I'm just twice as confused...
"If you want to work as an Industrial Designer, you will need to study Industrial design or Product Design at University. Studying another subject such as Mechanical engineering will prevent you from working as one. My best analogy is if you wanted to become an architect you would not study Civil Engineering – they are different professions with different knowledge and skill sets.
There are many Product /Industrial Design degree’s offered within the UK. Most of them are at the “New” Universities (formally Polytechnics) Most of them are Bachelor of Arts Qualifications. Some of these universities may not have the reputation or require the highest A level scores but do offer some of the top courses in this field in the country, one so in the world.
Due to the popularity of these courses more of the older, higher status Universities are starting to offer these subjects. Some are Excellent (ours for example!!) while others are truly terrible (in my opinion).
In my opinion the top courses in the country are:
Northumbria University, The University of Nottingham, Loughborough University (Department of Design) and Brunel University.
Other courses with a good reputation are:
Nottingham Trent University (Furniture), De-Montfort University, Sheffield Hallum and Ravensbourn collage of art and design.
I am basing my judgments on my 18 years as an Industrial Designer and my 10 years at The University of Nottingham."
Now I'm just twice as confused...
If you want to design products the degree you should be aiming to do is Product Design (which is usually a BA or BSc) as mentioned by the lecturer, being an engineer yes you can design things and this is a different type of design but the skill set is completely different and requires very different knowledge. Engineering is the application of mathematics and physics/or chemistry to real world problems and solving them/or coming up with new innovative ideas.
So in other words if you are good at maths and science and you are prepared for hard work in the goal of becoming an "engineer" then do engineering. If on the other hand you want to design products, design bodywork etc become a Product Designer.
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