Industrial Design Pathways Project
Independent Research Project on Educational Career Outcomes (November 2024 – Present)
[ID Pathways Website Currently a Work in Progress]
In the United States, the number of graduates with industrial design (ID) degrees exceed the number of entry-level industrial design roles. The ID profession is minimally growing at a rate of 3% from 2023 to 2033.[2]
“For industrial design, given that the number of jobs is already low, and colleges nationwide produce thousands of ID graduates a year, it’s likely that supply is outpacing the demand.”
From “Design Things” by Anson Cheung [3]
Pivoting from Traditional ID
Danielle Chen is a Product Designer with an ID background. She has spoken about various opportunities possible to ID students and recent graduates.
“Now is a great time to learn more about [emerging industries] so you can more easily pivot into them. By doing this research and evaluation, you can more easily evolve in your career and take advantage of the roles that will be coming up.” [4]
Learning from Current Professionals
Many ID graduates have found careers in fields adjacent to their college major. This research aims to share 7 stories from ID graduates who entered a related field.
Research Aim:
1. Which ID classes had the biggest impact on their career path?
2. How would they rate the ID competencies* they learned in school, and how are those skills used in their current work?
Objective:
Help current students explore career paths based on the ID classes they enjoy.
Help students identify which competencies to focus on for different ID career paths.
*Based on the National Association of Art and Design Schools (NASAD) [5]
Methods
I conducted individual sessions with ID graduates.
These stories were gathered to create “ID Pathways,” a visual guide for students to expand their options post-graduation. The ID graduates assisted in co-designing this online resource’s purpose and appearance.
Co-Designing the “ID Pathways” Resource
After choosing 2+ inspiration images, they generated these AI images to quickly visualize their concepts.
(Inspiration Images Free via Pixabay; AI-Generated Images via Naya AI)
Concept 1
Job personality test to explore pathways based on your interests
Concept 2
A website with a friendly robot who guides you in exploring pathways
Concept 3
A website encouraging students to try side projects and get feedback from the design community
Concept 4
An interactive flow chart with a selection of disciplines that are ID adjacent
Concept 5
A website for students with videos, a resource library, example portfolios, and skill building workshops
Concept 6
A visual map with nodes that show different topics and areas where you can learn new skills
Concept 7
A virtual gallery spreading awareness of the different pathways and portfolio examples
Learning from the Research and Co-Design Stages
The need to learn specific technical skills and digital programs varies by professional role.
- The CAD Designer, Digital Marketing Designer, and Strategy Consultant explicitly mentioned critique as a beneficial skill they use from design school, and all graduates rated this skill very highly (4 or 5 out of 5).
- Five graduates mentioned that user research methods stood out to them as important from design school.
- Six graduates did not mention 1st or 2nd year foundational courses in their ID education; those courses may not have been prominent in their reflections.
Current students can use this research as a resource for discovering applicable classes and new skills, depending on which pathway(s) they may be interested in.
Next Steps
I plan to create wireframes for the “ID Pathways” website concepts, gather feedback through a survey with ID students, and refine the idea through usability testing with 8 prospective users.
Check back for further updates to this project!
This ongoing research has been accepted to be published and presented at the Design Research Society’s Learn X Design Conference this year.
[1] College Vine (2021) [2] Bureau of Labor Statistics (2024) (Industrial Designers) (Digital Designers) [3] Anson Cheung (2022) [4] Danielle Chen (2023) [5] NASAD (2024) [6] Naya Studio (2025) [7] Pixabay (2025)
Karina Bhattacharya 