Why Women Should Consider a Career in ID

Image adapted illustration by from undraw.co

You will be able to support yourself & love what you do

Infographic courtesy Design Salary Guide Coroflot.com

If you are thinking about what to do after high school, you likely hear the voices of your concerned family members in your mind that want you to choose a career bringing you joy and a solid pay check. I believe that studying Industrial Design is a smart investment for women.

Although I believe we need an even broader range of ways to enter the field, the current education and training options available have bright points. There are many accredited college programs all over the world to choose from. Emerging alternative options, such as S.E.E.D and Offsite, are making industrial design education more accessible. A master’s degree is not table stakes to have a successful career, which is good news for keeping the loans under control.

Salary statistics vary depending on the source, search term, and geographic region, but the common thread I see is that the median staff level Industrial Design salary is well above the general median wage across all industries.

The skills you learn are adaptable and don’t lock you into one type of role for a full career. With an ID background one could pursue being a designer, model maker, educator, or even a researcher. Because of the flexibility of the ID skillset, your career can be long lasting. If you missed the recent panel talk featuring generations of Women in ID, including the recently retired, 50 years in the field expert Lucia DeRespinis, watch the replay!

- Lea

“If you’re curious, determined, motivated, and a bit restless, the design industry just might be for you. ”

— Miranda

ID is Where Technical & Creative Skills Collide

The skills you learn as a student of design not only prepare you to become an excellent and open-minded problem solver, they also translate to many professions not traditionally thought of as design, such as research and strategy. As a designer, you learn about many different areas of the world and are able to explore topics tangential to the creative arts. Your skill set will broaden far beyond sketching, reaching areas reminiscent of engineering, sculpture, and graphic design. – Miranda

Most industrial designers have a story of how they found out about the field. Some found ID when searching for something adjacent to graphic design, engineering, or art. I know others that were drawn to the field after time spent in medicine or even as a military mechanic, because their passion for solving problems translated well. I found industrial design while in search of a college program that was related to what I loved about architecture but on a smaller, more personal scale. It was the mix of artistry and feasibility I wanted. What I didn’t know back then was that I would also being using skills like performing, teaching, empathizing, and analyzing daily in my industrial design career.

- Lea

We Create Beautiful Things That are Useful

As a designer you may be asked to “make something pretty”, but I assure you that it isn’t all about aesthetics. Although the look of a product is important, it is only one part of the process. Designers play an important role in society and are responsible for products ranging from leg splints to cell phones to life saving medical devices. It isn’t the job of a designer to simply make something beautiful, but to make it useful. Understanding the needs, wants, and obstacles of the user all help to inform appropriate design decisions that ultimately lead to an effective, viable, and feasible product. - Miranda

“Because of the flexibility of the ID skillset, your career can be long lasting”

— Lea

The Process of Industrial Design is Rewarding

I love that I am always learning about something new – a well-designed product requires in-depth research, especially about the user or market that you are designing for. You could be tasked with designing a specific device for a snowboarder, rethinking a wine bottle and maybe even its branding alongside it, looking at new kids toys to inspire the next generation, or life-saving medical devices – guess what your research and testing would look like – a lot of fun! Not only do you get to come up with new ideas and designs that solve genuine problems, you get to see them come to life through hands-on prototyping and final production. I find it really rewarding to see the quirkiest of initial ideas in the hands of a final user, helping or benefiting their livelihoods in even the smallest of ways. Furthermore, you can have a say in the [end] life of a product, helping solve the ever growing issue of sustainability and social issues surrounding the health of our planet.

- Mona

“I help set my team up for success in their projects”

— Lea

Industrial Designers Play an Important Role

although we have finally reached 50/50 female/male split in academia, there is an imbalance in INDUSTRY

Being a woman, or womxn, considering a career in ID is truly beneficial to society as a whole and your interest could help bridge this gap. If the industry is imbalanced, what does this say about products used in society? Are we truly designing for and helping everyone with the best of intentions? The future for womxn in ID is bright, but equally critical in achieving the advance our society needs. A group of designers that is mixed in gender, ethnicity, age, ability and so on, naturally provides for more inclusive designs that mean better experiences and outlooks towards the bigger picture. For example, no more designs that are heavy to lift (think vacuum cleaners), safe for only a specific group of users (think crash test dummies and seat belts – many are based the average male), or usable only for non-disabled users. This list can go and on, but the most important thing is that you can help anyone.

- Mona

In the product development process, designers always advocate for human needs and desires. A career in industrial design would allow you to design physical and digital experiences that contemplate womxn's social context and challenges. Empowering this generation of womxn through products is also an impactful way to open doors for a new generation of girls to dream with more equal opportunities.

- Tati

Men are designing products for other men, for industry, for children, and yes, even for women (think menstrual products, women’s razors, and even your car's seat belt). In order to create a world of products designed for everybody, design needs more womxn to join the club. No one group of people can accurately represent the needs of everybody and the more diverse we can make the field of design, the more holistic products will become.

- Miranda