r/IndustrialDesign

Sorry second post regarding my company situation as you can tell I'm being in the role of taking care of everything design in my company.

My boss is telling me that no need to prototype even though we're making a brand new product to market, something that doesn't exist.

I've done quick mockups with 3D printing and I know they should more less work. But I need to see it with actual materials so that if it fails it doesn't fall back on me.

They're saying that the manufacturers in China will do samples for us and that way we'll know. The sourcing agents haven't gotten back to us yet but I'm telling that this is impossible. They're not going to be able to prototype for us. Especially if there are pieces that are going to be aluminum extrusions for instance.

Doesn't make any sense. But my boss is still insisting we spend time talking to manufacturer first that they'll figure it out.

Hello! So I did my undergrad in Industrial design. I loved the degree but in my country we don't have much of an industry and there aren't a lot of jobs. I ended up shifting my focus to UI/UX in my final year (did freelancing and am currently working at a company for over a year).

Although I enjoy UI/UX I am starting to feel like I need to broaden my scope and work towards something more specialized.

I am either considering masters or a course I could do abroad since my home country doesn't have as many options. I need a starting point on what fields/courses/majors I can look into since I have no idea where to start and there is so much stuff that constantly evolving on a day by day basis.

Any suggestions or advice would be greatly appreciated since I am feeling pretty lost. Thank you

I need to develop two design briefs for different project directions before starting my capstone next semester.

Project Direction 1: Circular Knitting Machine

My main idea is to design a circular knitting machine. Knitting is something I really enjoy, but I often don’t have enough time for it. I’m interested in creating a machine that makes knitting more accessible and efficient.

Ideally, I would design an adjustable circular knitting machine that allows users to change the size or gauge. However, I recognise this could be technically complex within a single semester. To manage this risk, I want to frame the project in a way that still succeeds even if the adjustable mechanism isn’t fully resolved.

A possible fallback direction would be designing a portable, travel-friendly circular knitting machine that improves usability, compactness, and ease of transport.

Project Direction 2: Educational Toy

Another idea is to design a toy that teaches children about an industrial design or manufacturing process.

For example, similar to how Play-Doh extrusion toys introduce the concept of extrusion, this project would translate a real-world manufacturing method into an engaging, hands-on learning experience.

Project Direction 3: Felting Craft Kit

My third idea is a toy or craft kit focused on teaching people how to felt wool.

I’m passionate about wool as a material and believe many people don’t fully understand its benefits compared to synthetic fibres. This project would aim to:

Educate users about natural fibres

Encourage hands-on engagement with making

Promote appreciation for material quality and craftsmanship

The broader goal is to help people value better materials by involving them in the creation process.

I'm hung up trying to think of other ideas (even though the first brief is due in a week). I want to pick a project that's worth suffering and putting a ton of effort into. I know that the project I go with could influence my career.

I feel competent at CAD, both hard and surface modelling. I love sewing and using soft materials, as well as woodworking and have access to CNC routers for free. I want my capstone to evidence those skills, so I'm not just trying to convince future employers that I can do these without evidence

I’m dealing with an interesting problem trying to design a system (U-cell perhaps?) that can automatically sort magnets in an aluminum housing and run some physical tests and kick to a pass or fail bucket.

Interesting issue is what would be a good way to automatically sort the magnets to do so if they were all dumped into one place in the beginning? Looking for some ideas and inspiration.

A concept 50 MPH electric scooter I just published. Every part modeled in

Plasticity as a closed solid — ̶M̶a̶n̶u̶f̶a̶c̶t̶u̶r̶e̶r̶-̶r̶e̶a̶d̶y̶ geometry, not just

decorative shapes. Brought into Blender via STEP for shading and rendering

in Cycles.

The wider project around the model: full brand system, owner's guidebook,

concept book, mockups, a live interactive site, and a 4K cinematic film.

Full project on Behance:

https://www.behance.net/gallery/249466959/E-SWAN-Concept-Electric-Scooter-Industrial-Design

Built end-to-end at MS3DSTUDIO (MS_Creation&More) — Alexandria, Egypt 🇪🇬

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EDIT: Fair point from the comments — I called this "manufacturer-ready" and

that was the wrong word. This is a concept industrial design study with

closed-solid CAD source, not an engineering-validated production prototype.

No FEA, no DFM review, no validated battery/controller layout behind the

renders. The correct framing is: concept design + full design package, ready

for an engineering partner to start from — not to start production from.

Thanks to the folks who pushed back, that's the kind of feedback you can't

get any other way.

https://i.redd.it/7oecmlaq5p1h1.gif

https://preview.redd.it/jk14pke36b1h1.png?width=1684&format=png&auto=webp&s=08a92e3d8cd4e2ae57df5876532464dcf15cb1eb

We'll be here next Thursday 21st May, 3–5pm BST to answer your questions, with a focus on industrial and embedded use of Raspberry Pi.

Between the three of us we cover the full stack, so bring whatever you've got; board-level hardware questions, software and OS questions, the Compute Modules, RP2040/RP2350, real-time performance, interfacing with industrial protocols, or broader questions.

Post your questions now and we'll work through as many as we can on the day.

See you on the 21st.

— Eben, James & Gordon

I'm working for a startup, and we're doing some kitchen products. They're a bit clueless on processes for design, my boss is complicated however. I'd like to know what's general timelines from other companies...

He tells me about his friend who launches 2 products a month. My gripe with this is that, I'm the only designer and if we're making a new product from scratch not existing in the market it's going to take us longer. If we're launching already existing products but differentiated for our brand then it will not take us as long.

So I know it depends on the complexity of the project, but I've suggested from 4-6 weeks for a kitchen tool. Not sure if it's overly conservative or too fast?

Let me know what are your toughts?

Hey everyone, I'm working on a functional tech/outdoor jacket project. Most jackets focus solely on the waterproofing of the fabric, but we're trying to optimize dynamic airflow and warmth through the actual pattern design. The theoretical simulation is complete, and I'm now prototyping in Blender.

I'd love to hear your feedback: What's the biggest pain point with your current hardshell jackets regarding mobility and breathability?

I am confused on what path should I follow. I have been accepted in ccs for transportation designing with a high scholarship but due to the current conditions of US and the declining market should I do Industrial design in some reputed european university and do masters in pforzheim or art center.

https://preview.redd.it/bzpudpedq32h1.png?width=4963&format=png&auto=webp&s=f9b99b064819f4aaad4391b85ed3333ddd1d5b55

• I want to target Industrial Design roles like Design Strategist, Foresight Specialist, Systems Designer, and Service Designer.
• Healthcare, Planning of any sort, Education, Water, Energy
• Bangalore, India. Willing to Relocate(But I prefer Bangalore)
• Just graduated from my master's degree in Industrial Design. I'm more of a big picture kind of guy and like to work in facilitating a project through different research methods like speculative and systems thinking than designing a physical product. The major problem is that I do not have any experience working in this field.
• I would like feedback on the entire resume
• Visa/citizenship status is not affecting my search

Hello everyone! This is a broad question.

I graduated a couple of years ago, for life circunstances I couldn't start working with it or anythign alike right away, I had to focus on other stuff.

Now 5 years later, I wanna get into it cuz I really like the field, I really enjoy ID, but being honest I don't know how. I graduated in a diferent country from where I live now, I know how fast things move along now, how technology changes, how crazy finding a job is nowadays.

I just don't know how to "start" or where. -Should I build a prortfolio, should I make an updated course, should I find an internship job to get a hang of how things work- ?????...
I feel like I'll never be able to "catch up".

I know it's a weird situation, I know there's millions of people out there with way more talent and experience. But I wanna try.

So any advice, anything at all, would be very helpful!

Thank you!

I’ve been experimenting with a different way of putting product visualization boards together.

Instead of treating renders, material references, color chips, notes, and image references as separate steps, I tried combining them into one board: live 3D render views, text notes, images, colors, and material directions all in the same space.

The thing I’m trying to explore is whether product rendering can become more of a working design surface, not just a final-output step send via email or pdf

For example, a board could include:

• live 3D views of the same product
• material and CMF directions
• color options
• reference images
• notes for stakeholders
• visual variants for review

I’m interested in whether this kind of format would actually be useful in industrial design workflows, especially for concept development, CMF, stakeholder reviews, and handoff to marketing or sales.

Do people here already work this way using tools like KeyShot, Miro, Figma, Vizcom, Blender, or slides? Or do you still tend to keep rendering, moodboards, and presentations as separate steps?

Would love feedback on whether this feels useful, overcomplicated, or just another way of making a presentation board.

https://preview.redd.it/dl9ja4ccx22h1.png?width=1058&format=png&auto=webp&s=6cb63ade19934fdf9bf3f0176a3b8c07c67bb591