If you’ve ever driven a sleek sports car or held a sturdy coffee mug, you’ve benefited from the design work of industrial designers. They combine art with engineering to create aesthetically pleasing and functional products in everyday life. Following an arts degree is essential to pursue a career in this field.
You’ll Learn to Think Creatively
If you’ve ever purchased a home appliance or even a toy robot for your child, you’ve benefited from the work of an industrial designer. Industrial designers use research and creativity to envision new products, environments, or systems while considering factors like function, value, and aesthetics. An industrial design art degree like Academy of Art University allows students to develop a broad range of artistic skills while honing their ability to think creatively and solve problems. The program includes courses in various artistic mediums, such as drawing, painting, and sculpture. It also requires students to take classes in more practical subjects, such as computer-aided design (CAD) and product development. Students who complete the AA program will prepare for a seamless transition into the BFA in industrial design. Many of the same academic standards and requirements apply to both degrees. Students should review the programs carefully to ensure they seek an option that offers them the best chance for success as a professional in their chosen field.
You’ll Learn to Think Technically
If you love the sleek lines of a sports car, admire your sofa’s ergonomics, or appreciate your laptop’s functionality, you can thank industrial designers. These professionals focus on the aesthetics and usability of manufactured goods and their interactions with people. They work closely with other professionals who focus on mechanical and other functional aspects of product development and with marketers to identify consumer needs and desires.
An industrial design art degree combines sculpture and form, drawing, making, material science, sociological and anthropological research methods, systems thinking, history, writing, and design theory. In addition to these critical skills, students build a professional portfolio through project-based coursework and two required co-op experiences, reinforcing curricular goals and accelerating an understanding of professional practice.
Successful industrial designers can think independently, respond flexibly, and thrive in career fields that value original and thoughtful creativity. Those pursuing a bachelor’s degree in this field will gain the skills and experience necessary to succeed in various career paths, from fashion and furniture design to business and entrepreneurship.
You’ll Learn to Think Business
Industrial designers need to understand their industry’s business side to succeed. They must be able to take risks, calculate the odds of a product’s success, and know how to market their designs to potential clients. This is why many industrial designers earn a master’s degree in business or another related field. Whether it’s the sleek lines of your sports car or the ergonomic comfort of your laptop, the design of everyday objects has been influenced by industrial designers. From radios to sneakers, the mug you drink out of, or the toys your children play with industrial and product design is a career that celebrates creativity, ingenuity, and thoughtfulness.
The four-year Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) in Industrial Design prepares students to be innovative design leaders. This major requires 78 credit hours, including a significant studio art element that allows students to create art as part of their coursework physically. A selective portfolio review is required to advance into upper-level Industrial Design courses, and students who are not selected for upper-level industrial design can work with their academic advisors to change their major without adding time to their degree plan.
You’ll Learn to Think Socially
If you have a passion for design and want to improve the world by designing products that help people, an industrial design degree may be right for you. You’ll learn to think critically and creatively to create the products you use daily. You’ll also gain a deep understanding of the human experience. This is called empathy; industrial designers use this knowledge when creating new products. They must be able to “walk in the shoes” of their future users and understand the context in which they live. This includes addressing aging, disabilities, and various cultural, economic, ethnic, and gender identities. While pursuing your industrial design art degree, you’ll take various classes, including subjects like sculpture and form, drawing, model making, material science, sociological and anthropological research methods, systems thinking, and the history of design. This breadth of learning will allow you to apply your creativity and problem-solving skills across many industries. While a bachelor’s degree in industrial design is a solid foundation, many graduates pursue advanced education by earning a master’s degree. This can open up more opportunities to work as a designer and allows you to advance in your career more quickly.
You’ll Learn to Think about Sustainability
Industrial designers create concepts and designs for manufactured products, from thumbtacks to cars and home appliances. They use artistic abilities, technical capabilities, and interpersonal skills to creatively engineer and design aesthetically appropriate, functional solutions that can be manufactured economically. In a bachelor’s degree program, you’ll learn about computer-aided design and drafting, drawing, model making, and product development. You’ll also take art history, social science, anthropology, economics, and systems thinking courses. You’ll have the opportunity to collaborate with peers in other programs like graphic design, management, and design for sustainability or pursue a double major or minor to expand your professional prowess. As you design for global and local manufacturing, you’ll learn to integrate and reconcile competing interests in economic and sustainable production, consumerism, and social improvement.
