Industrial Design Schools: Opinions and Questions

Hello, im a senior going to graduate in 2017.
Currently im having a little trouble deciding on a university to study Industrial design in.
Some of my options are Griffith university(Australia) and Brunel (uk . Are their programs any good?

Brunel, in my opinion, is a weird one. If you want to study in the UK then I would say Loughborough is the best option, after that… I dunno. A lot of unis here are very pretentious with the names of the degrees they give out, the module titles and even the wording of the module specifications.
NCAD in Ireland (Dublin) looks really good too and is a proper city, not like Loughborough.

Thanks for the reply! Ill be sure to check them out.

I’ll throw my hat in the ring.

I graduate from Kendall College of Art and Design in Grand Rapids, MI in two months, and I think this school deserves a lot more credit than it’s given. It was founded by a furniture designer in the 1920’s and still has one of the top furniture design programs in the US. For those unfamiliar with Grand Rapids, it used to be the furniture capital of the world and still is headquarters to companies such as Steelcase, Haworth, Herman Miller, and several others. In fact, most of the ID faculty worked together at Herman Miller back when they had an in-house team.

Grand Rapids is consistently listed as an up and coming city and the design, medical, and interestingly, entrepreneurial scenes are buzzing right now. It’s an exciting time to be in GR!

As for my time at Kendall, I’ve had a diverse education in all of the usual industrial design skills of ergonomics, human-centered design, 3D modeling, rapid visualization, rendering, cmf, etc. Our program also focuses on start-ups and entrepreneurial design which is something most schools don’t offer. In addition, KCAD as we call it, has a great relationship with the companies all around West MI and I believe our job placement rate is something like 90% or more of the graduates each year have an ID job sixth months or less after they graduate.

If you’ve ever worked in or around West MI you know at least a few KCAD graduates or interns at companies such as Steelcase, Newell Brands, Wolverine Worldwide, Bissell, Stryker, and Whirlpool. Furthermore, there’s a handful of contract design studios around the area that regularly take KCAD interns during the summer and school year.

Some of the bigger name studios outside West Mi that KCAD alumni work for are Frog, Teague, and Ideo.

The tuition is only about $20K a year because we are technically part of a state school which is nice and KCAD offers a really great education at half the price of some of the schools that have been mentioned already.

If you’re interested in footwear, furniture, consumer products, medical equipment, packaging, consumer electronics, power tools or hand tools KCAD is the place for you. If you’re looking for a career in toys, transportation or automobiles there are probably schools with better connections and curriculums for you to explore. Hope that helps!

I am an Indian student keen on building a career in ID and will be travelling on a student visa. I have admission to the ID course in University of Illinois, Urbana and Champaign as well as Purdue University in the US. I also have admission to Emily Carr, OCADU and Carleton University as well.

The first decision is which country - US (does ID qualify as a STEM course, this is important due to the new visa rules in the US as I want to get some experience after my degree). Canada I know gives me a 3 year work permit the moment I complete my under grad program. Cost wise too Canada is much cheaper than the US - USD 45,000 versus CAD 35,000. So in a sense cost and visa rules are in favour of Canada.

However, the moment I look at brand, facilities and global recognition (at least here in India) the US universities are far better known and I assume will lead to far better professional outcomes.

So the question I have is should I go to the US colleges and if so to which one? and if i should go to Canada, which one? I am more keen to look at a more hands on approach to design rather than a pure theoretical approach.

I need to take this decision in the next 15 days so please help.

My son and I recently compared several industrial design undergraduate schools. This site was extremely helpful in researching the schools. My son is a high school senior interested in product design, not transportation. He would like to explore furniture design, photography, fine arts and maybe UX / UI. Here’s a summary of our findings. Many of the comments here have been previously stated by others and confirmed by me.

He applied , visited, and was accepted to : CMU, U of Cincinnati, Pratt, RISD, RIT. The facilities such as the woodshops, studios, model shops looked good at all the schools.

CMU
Pros- Graduates are getting very high paying jobs mostly in the field of UX/UI. Flexible program that allows students to explore product, communications and environment paths within the design department. Small program with a total of about 40 design students (including communication & environment design too) . Strong computing and engineering programs allow students to minor in human computer interface. Opportunities to take fine arts classes. Majority of students get summer internships junior and senior year.
Cons- Student portfolios and design studios show little evidence of high level physical consumer product design.

UC
Pros- Outstanding student portfolios showing high level product design, model making and manufacturing skills. Extensive co-op opportunities in the US , Europe, Asia. Students are well prepared with marketable skills and work experience.
Cons- UX/UI opportunities are in Communications Design major. Not sure if it’s available for ID majors. My son prefers a smaller school. Largest school of the group. It is also the furthest from our home in upstate NY.

Pratt
Pros- My son liked the art focus of the student work. Well presented displays of student work. Proximity to NYC for culture and internships. Faculty consists mostly of working designers.
Cons- My sons interaction with the school administration was not good. Campus tour dates were very restricted, tours left out a view of the dorms, faculty presentations were not well organized, follow up by the admissions staff was poor. These administrative missteps eventually changed my son’s opinion of the school.

RISD
Pros - Outstanding student portfolios with artistic focus. Opportunities to take fine arts classes and academic classes at Brown. Focuses on traditional skill and aspects of ID.
Cons- Tour of the ID department was weak so we didn’t get too many details. Very high cost and no merit scholarships eventually took this school off our list.

RIT
Pros- Well presented displays of student work. Lots of evidence of high quality product design. Strong photography program and large variety of academic selections.
Cons- UX/UI opportunities are in another major. Not sure if it’s available for ID majors. Co-op isn’t mandatory and not as well established as UC’s.

Son’s Choice
After many months of visiting, applying, researching the schools, he chose to attend UC. When we started this process we knew very little about UC. The more we learned about it the better it looked. UC is also the lowest cost school of the group. I think he made the right choice!

I think UC is the right choice. They do a big chair project every year and the curriculum is very balanced. It doesn’t have the fine arts bent but I think you have to make choices. Many time UX/UI and furniture are in different programs, and for good reasons. The skill sets are completely different and the types of designers they attract tend to be on opposite sides of the spectrum. UC is a rare one that is a little more blended, likely due to being a university. Going a little farther from home is a good thing. I grew up in the Hudson Valley and went to RISD, but I could have used going a little farther from home.

Hi!

A lot of the pots listed here discuss institutes offering an MID, an MDes or an MA in Industrial Design. Does anyone have information on universities in US/UK/EU offering a Masters of Science in Industrial Design?

Thanks!

Hello everyone! I’m a Mechanical Engineering graduate who’s recently decided to switch careers into Industrial Design. My natural course of action was to start building a portfolio for applications as well as researching universities for a Masters program.

I noticed that most of the 2-year Masters programs have a preference for students with bachelors degrees in design or related fields. I did however come across a few 3-year programs which are geared towards students who come from a non-design background. I’ve more or less decided on the 3-year courses since I believe I’d need the extra foundation year to get my skills up to scratch.

When it comes to Industrial design, I have an inclination towards the ideation and prototyping phase, UI/UX, and interaction. So, based on the above information, here’s my question:

Which school/university would you recommend for my interests which also offers a 3-year graduate program? I’ve looked up schools like CMU, RISD, Pratt, and Georgia Tech, but don’t have a solid opinion on them yet.

Any help is appreciated. Cheers!

I highly recommend visiting them. All four of them are very different schools.

I would ask the question if you are leaning towards UI/UX if you actually want to pursue Industrial Design at all, or actually want to look for a dedicated interaction design/Human Computer Interaction program. There are programs that will let you do hybrids of both, but if you want to focus specifically you may come out with a more stronger portfolio in that area.

CMU has an outstanding HCI program. Georgia Tech also offers a masters degree in that field. All are good programs but very different. More specifically, if you are going to spend 4 years somewhere, you should decide if it’s going to be Pittsburgh, Atlanta, RI or NYC. All have very different vibes which will make some people happy and some miserable.

Hey Mike and Yo, thanks for the suggestions! However I’m not from the US, so visiting these schools prior to admission won’t be possible.

I think I wasn’t entirely descriptive about my interests, since I see I only mentioned UI/UX to be an interest. Apart from that, I’d say that my primary focus would be user-centric products, both tangible and intangible. Ergonomics is also something that greatly interests me. So for example, designing a game controller would be something I’d like to do in the future, since it has all the aspects that I’m interested in.

I think this is why I want to get into Industrial design, since I don’t want to restrict myself to UI/UX only. I feel I’d get more exposure on the whole, and can then make a decision on what I’d want to specialize in.

Pratt or Art Center. Why on earth would one think arts are properly supported in state schools? Why live in a “red” state? Your choice of school is the first step in defining yourself and your interests.

When my son was looking at schools (non visual fields) I told him to pick a brand name and that way people don’t have to ask you “What state is that in?”

My Choice? Pratt.

That is an odd way of looking at things. It is hard to argue with the portfolios coming out of the Ohio schools in my opinion.

Just a quesiton of proximity to major metropolitan areas and all of the exposure to so many things that affords. That kind of environment rounds out a person and adds so much more than the curriculum itself. The measure of a designer is not their portfolio alone.

Is Australia has scope for Industrial Design?? and Which is best Universities or colleges to do Masters of industrial design in Australia?

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Hi,
I am a Product Designer based in India.

Could anyone give me a feedback on the following 2 masters course and how suitable are they for a product designer?

Anhalt University of Applied Sciences, Dessau - Master in Integrated Design

TH Köln (University of Applied Sciences) - Master in Integrated Design

As the course are open to various design disciplines, are they structured or very open-ended?

Hi all, daughter trying to decide where to go for Industrial Design. She has been admitted to UC Daap, Virginia Tech, RIT, OSU, Auburn. These are all so different that it is hard to decide. She loved the feel of UC. Any advice on which is the best? Thank you in advance!

UC

UC’s portfolios are really good.
I would research their programs, look at their professional networks and see if they offer sponsored projects, co-ops, or internship opportunities.
Good luck.