Jumping back into the ID...somehow!

Hello my fellow ID’ers,

Im after some tips/encouragement to how i can put myself back on the “ID” market after so long.

After completing my Bachelor of Industrial Design i worked as a Graphic Designer for a year. Then later on decided to venture into business by opening a small jewellery boutique store. Over the years I felt i was doing 80% retail and 20% design…so after 5 long years, I’ve decided to step away from the business and jump back into ID… i miss being innovative and to be part of a creative collaborative team. Im 29 years old and rather nervous :confused: …I’v shocked my system by stepping away from my comfort zone to chase a life long dream of being an Industrial Designer. The slight issue, is my portfolio. I can showcase jewellery samples and some graphic design work. However, my ID projects go back to university days, which is 6 years too long, right?

At this stage I’m teaching myself Rhino and Solidworks.

Any advice would really be appreciated!

It’s tough, no doubt but you can definitely get back into ID. 29 is not a problem.

Where do you want to work? Consultancy? In-house? Lifestyle? Audio? Medical? Trans? Footwear?
All this will influence what to work on.

You are right that you will need to show ID projects if you want to work within ID.
The main issue I see with 6 year old student work is not that it is 6 years old, but rather that it is student work and if you haven’t touched it, will look like student work.
If it was well designed, I would not care that it is 6 years old. Of course, it depends on what it is. A flip cellphone might age a lot less graciously as a chair for example.

My advise would be to revise your portfolio. Include some of your best jewellery designs to show a talent for form, style and manufacturability.
The add personal projects that reflect your current abilities in the field you want to work in.

Also feel free to post your current work here in the portfolio section of the forum. There it would be a lot easier to nudge you into the right direction and point out what you might lack in your work right now.

Thank you so much!
I would love to work for a multi-deciplinary studio. Get a broad feel of everything…but at this stage beggers cant be choosers…haha
I certainly reworked some of my designs from uni. Im actually gonna label them as personal side projects.
Its no doubt tough at this stage but im determined to try my best :slight_smile: