I don't know ANYTHING about product design, but presume either they freelance or they work for dedicated product design companies or in house as a department within a larger company.

I'd imagine based on the world I've worked in that freelance is going to come with the challenges that running your own business entails though I can't think who your customer base would be. They'll either be so huge they have in house design, or outsource to medium dedicated firms, or they'll hire you on a temporary basis bypassing your business entirely, or they'll be so small that it'll be pissy work and you'll have to network like a bitch to keep enough clients to keep money coming in.

I imagine dedicated companies will have all the challenges of working any other office job in a fake creative environment with all the usual politics and design meetings and pitches and hangers on and inflated ego.

I imagine working in house for huge respected brands is highly competitive, would require relocation and I suspect lots of them are using temporary contracts and outsourcing what in the modern world is becoming a unnecessary cost. I'd imagine that the pay is average except at the top levels.

Maybe there are emerging markets with prototyping factories and small scale manufacturers who take on limited runs looking to offer additional services to their clients, but I imagine most of these are in China. You might be able to find a way into this, but you'd have to have the skills of running your own relentlessly self promoting brand and image to network to be of value to them.

But what do I know? I'm just extrapolating based on my own work history. I've a friend who is a 'brand/image' consultant. He has his own company. He is basically a massive salesman selling himself and the idea of what he could do. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't, blame the implementation, take the money and run. It all seems image. Look like a big company. Impress smaller companies. Sell the idea of success.

>>17160432

Thanks for this very constructive reply.
So what do you do and how is it working for you?

Also, what if you worked for a small business that isn't international?

>>17160443
Studied programming and business system analysis. Unless you worked for a company with in house development teams (they nearly all bring in freelance or dedicated consultancy) you had to have your own business or work as part of a dedicated firm.

If you work for a dedicated firm you get paid averagely and you get all the usual shit that working in an office involves. But you only get pressure from your part of the project and implementation and you can specialise and there is safety in only having ownership of the part that you are the expert in.

If you work for a tiny firm or for yourself you've got to find the clients, put together a pitch, sell the pitch, develop, implement, train and support the product. You've got to have so many skills which relate to basically being a good salesperson.

I imagine it is the same for people who work in product design. It seems similar for my friend who works in brand design. He first has to find someone who needs to be sold the benefit of his services, the value of which are determined by how well he can sell himself and he has to pitch and produce and implement. The creative work is a tiny part of the overall work.

I branched out into audio system design and development, sound reinforcement, acoustic design, digital sound processing. Not sure how it happened, but it kind of did.

I mean, what do you want to be doing? Producing prototypes? Physically producing them? Designing digitally or on paper? Do you have to cost them up? Sell against competitive designs based on features and benefits compared to unit price? Do you have a love of a particular product or industry which would give you insight in that area?

I know a girl who specialises in designing clothes from sustainable materials. She gets her manufacturing done elsewhere and sells through local and online. It doesn't pay all the bills.

I know a girl who designs and manufacturers furniture. She sells through galleries. It doesn't pay all the bills.

>>17160417
As an industrial designer ill let you know a few things. (A degree in industrial design is what most universities/colleges offer for product design, depending on the university it can otherwise be all arts and sketching and concept work or engineering and CAD work etc and actually getting your hands dirty and building and understanding.

If you intend to do this your going to need a degree and start at the lowest totem pole in the design industry, you will enter as a junior industrial designer or design assistant.
(It is shit pay and long hours you have to be very dedicated, high attention to detail and honestly be a jack of all trades helps, but it can be very rewarding to the right person)

As a previous poster said you can otherwise go the route of freelance or working for a design firm or an in house design department/ R&D for a company that manufactures.

Let me first say, freelance is the last resort for graduates who cant get into a design firm or work for a large/medium company, It is very hard to break into getting work as a freelancer if you have no experience, because it will be based all on your portfolio of work and what you have designed prior. You might be lucky but its not going to be easy you are going to have to be a self starter. Being a freelancer you are pretty much selling yourself and your skills and have good contacts which is easier when you have been in industry longer and dealt with various companies. thus being said if you have worked for large companies and design firms etc
I have only every worked in house for larger companies and larger design firms. (Stay away from smaller companies, I'm going by what friends have said because a lot of the time they aren't well run and don't have the resources to actually improve your skills, but if you need to get some experience id say do it and then move up and out) Since its a competitive field, don't even bother if your not gonna study your but off and put in the time.

>>17161476
You want to make sure you go to a university which has a heavy engineering side which will focus on materials, building techniques etc, because in this day an age you need to know how to build something and then be able to design it for manufacture, having a concept is useless and not being able to deliver is useless, in these cases it seems like a dream career to just imagine new things. (Its not, its hard work and you need to be a DIY builder or similar)
Depending on the role you will otherwise be in charge of a total project or one specific part. even working in a team depending on the size of the company.

CAD skills are the next important thing, you need to be an absolute gun at designing in programs such as Solidworks, CREO, Autocad, Rhino etc. Various industries/companies use different programs but they have similar options etc so you can pick each one up with time, because skilled in more is always better. but most universities will only stick to one program.
Without these, you basically wont get a job or even be looked at, because all companies and design firms this needed.

Photoshop skills etc, and sketching and rendering pretty images, I enjoyed this while studying and was good at it, but once in industry i didn't use it much. because a lot of companies like seeing the digitally rendered images from CAD and it impressed a lot more in meetings and pitches etc.
I have found that my skills in these areas which i did well at uni have gone out the window, i don't sketch much in my roles today just basic hand sketches to figure a form etc and mostly in my head, and then i mock it up in 3d quickly in CAD. Or i design as i go on CAD which can be a major Taboo for some in industry, but you do what works for you and if it produces results.

>>17161496
I have been in industry for the past 8 years. so its been an interesting ride, I'm past the stage where I'm at the beginning of my career and id say just at the start of midway in terms of experience and what Ive done.
Because in my current role, I'm a senior industrial designer.
You can work for a range of companies you have never imagined making some random things at time, specific companies etc the work is vast.

I have designed a range of things:
Designing:
-Kitchen utensils
-Brand work for companies in terms of displays
-Bespoke furniture
-Kids toys
-various sheet metal work for electronics companies.
-Medical devices, involving research, this was the most boring because of the Red tape and research needed.
-Various electronics and mass consumer items,
Office stationary etc.

Design firms allow you to get a broader design range and work on a range of projects from various industries and it changes,
I prefer working in house for a large company because its very similar work in the range of what your doing and the resources are nice and progression into higher roles are easier.

Because even large design firms you will only have 10-15 staff total.

Ive never done freelance and don't think id ever like to do that, from people i know your are scraping together finding work and its a very stressful lifestyle, because you have to wear so many different hats in terms or skills etc and if you aren't bringing a really specialized skill to the table which then allows you to have your pick and choosing, it seems harsh. I do know 2 guys that have done very well for themselves in freelance, but its because they built a name for themselves together as a pair and it was branding about them and their design skills.

Sometimes the job can be boring depending on the role, but if you find a decent role its pretty rewarding, at the end of the day its competitive as hell, and if your going to do it, you better bring your A game.