The job of an industrial designer is to improve certain aspects of a product developed in an industrial environment. The most common aspects targeted by industrial designers are the quality, efficiency and safety of products, and nowadays industrial designers are most frequently hired to work on electronics-related projects. However, an industrial designer could find work on a wide variety of projects, even simple designs like mechanical pens. Some industrial designers choose to specialize in a particular field, such as automobiles.
To become an industrial designer, a good start can be made by acquiring a Bachelor’s degree in industrial design or a related field like engineering or architecture. However, a Bachelor’s degree may not be enough in many cases, and the requirements in the industry have been rapidly growing in recent times – a Master’s degree is becoming more and more common as a basic requirement, so it can definitely pay off to analyze the local conditions before deciding to get into the field.
Industrial designers earn between $40,000 – $68,000 a year, depending primarily on their place of employment. Some companies value the position very highly, while in some other cases it can be hard to get hired as an industrial designer, let alone secure a high salary – and this depends mostly on the local job market in a candidate’s area. In general, the job outlook is good and there’s plenty of room for advancement to better-paid positions, though those often come with higher requirements towards the candidate’s qualifications.