I have 2 questions for you lovely people. I’d be gratful if you could answer them.
with an ID qualification. Can you just become an industrial designer/product designer or can you go into areas such as architecture, design journalism etc.
Also, designers seem to be “small pawns in a bigger game”…are there any careers which an individual can go into that is still creative but with a greater managerial role. This is my issue (some may say design management, what does that involve exactly?).
Thank you very much.
To begin with, anyone can call themselves an IDer. If you wanted to be a journalist in the area of design you would just need to have something intelligent to add to the domain…and an ID degree would not guarentee you anything to say.
With an ID degree or qualification you can do product design, exhibit design and graphic design pretty easily. I’ve heard of IDers also doing interior design if they like furniture and spaces alot, but that is a bit rare. As far as architecture…well, you can do renderings for an architect…I almost had a job doing that…but you can’t actually practice as you need a permit to do that (meaning 4-6 years of architecture education + time as an intern).
The way into design management is basically experience and ability. I’ve met a design director who didn’t even have a bachelors degree, but many nowadays have a MBA and a bucket of experience behind them.