How to become a Industrial Designer: Career Guide, Courses, After 12th, Jobs, Scope, Salary

What does an Industrial Designer do?

An Commercial and Industrial designer will typically do the following:

• Rigorous research on the various ways a consumer will use the product and who will use the product.
• Create blueprints of the ideas.
• To create virtual models of different designs through computers.
• Examine production and materials costs to determine the different investments in the equipment required for manufacturing.
• To evaluate whether their design concepts will fill the need at a reasonable cost by working with professional experts.
• Estimate and evaluate appearance, function and product safety to determine if a design is of practical use.
• Demonstrate and present prototypes to clients for approval of the design.
• If Industrial and commercial designers work for manufacturers, they create specific machine-readable instructions by the use of computer-aided industrial design software (CAID) to elucidate other machines exactly how to build the product.

Types of Industrial Designers

Commercial and Industrial Designers may stay with marketing experts to develop strategies to market brand new innovative product designs to their valuable consumers. Types of Industrial designers based on Profession are mentioned below:

• Architects: Architects plan and design factories, office buildings, houses and other structures. Salary in this post is around 2 to 4 lacs per annum
• Art Directors: Art directors work for style and imaging in television productions, product packaging, magazines and newsletters. They create the general design of a product and direct the work of others who create artwork and layouts.
• Drafters: Using computer-aided tools, drafters transform architects' and engineers' plans into technical drawings. Most workers specialize in electrical, mechanical drafting, architectural or civil engineering and use technical drawings to help in the fabrication of design from skyscrapers to microchips. Salary in this post is around 1 to 4 lacs per annum
• Fashion Designer: Fashion Designer creates accessories, footwear and clothing. They sketch designs and give instructions on how to make the products they design after selecting fabrics and patterns. Salary in this post is around 4 to 14 lacs per annum
• Graphic Designer: Graphic Designer creates visual concepts to communicate ideas that inform, inspire and captivate consumers by using computer software or by hand. They provide the overall layout and production design for a variety of applications such as business reports, brochures, periodicals, and ads.Salary in this post is around 2 to 8 lacs per annum
• Interior Designer: Interior designers create safe, practical, and appealing interior environments by calculating space needs and selecting ornamental things such as lighting, designable materials, and colours. They must be familiar with universal accessibility requirements, inspection laws, construction codes, and the ability to interpret blueprints. The annual salary for this position ranges between 1 and 7 lacs.

Steps to become an Industrial Designer

The following steps state a generalized guide to become a Commercial and Industrial Designer.

• Decision Making- Before selecting a Career as a Commercial and Industrial Designer proper research should be done regarding the pros and cons of this Career Profile. Before choosing a vocation, one should consider the employment prospects as well as the yearly pay packages.
• Subject Choice- There is no requirement of selecting a particular stream or subject for this career at the 10+2 level. However, coursework relevant to Commercial and Industrial designing must be done for getting the job of a Commercial and Industrial Designer. Candidates with a higher degree are more preferred.
• Entrance Exam Preparation- Scores in a particular Entrance exam preferred by the institute are necessary for taking admission in the Commercial and Industrial Design course.
• Selecting Correct College/ Institute- Aspirants must do proper research regarding ranking, placement, faculty, internship etc. before joining the institute.
• After Qualifying Entrance Exam- As per admission guidelines the candidate needs to accomplish the recommended steps to fill a seat for him/her in that institute.

How to become an Industrial Designer in India?

Indian Students are allowed to pursue different courses in Designing ranging from Certificate Courses to PhD. Students can enrol in specializations like Commercial Design Studies, Interior Designing and many more. A student who wishes to pursue this career must train their mind and start preparing after their schooling. A short description of how to be a Commercial and Industrial Designer is as follows:

How to become an Industrial Designer after 12th?

After Bachelors

For PG courses, a bachelor degree with 55% aggregate marks in the same branch is very essential to earn a PG course. Students who are willing to pursue further education can join the PG Course after completion of the B.Des course. The PG course has many specializations such as Fashion Design, Leather Design, Accessory Design, Textile Design, Interior Design and many more.

After Post-Graduation

After completion of PG Degree, a student matching the eligibility criteria can enrol for PhD Courses after qualifying for the relevant entrance test. An aspirant should begin preparing for PhD entrance exams throughout their PG stage so that they can qualify on time.However, a student needs to qualify for national level and university level entrance tests like CEED, NIFT entrance exams, UPES Entrance TEST, Pearl Academy Entrance Exam etc.

Courses to become an Industrial Designer

Industrial design jobs usually require a bachelor's degree in architecture, engineering or industrial design.

Some Courses to become a Commercial and Industrial Designer are as follows:

PG Diploma in Commercial and Industrial Design

Post Graduate Diploma in Commercial and Industrial Design is a 1-2-year program. The course admits students on a merit basis.

Admission Process

Most of the institutes conduct direct admissions. Some institutes organize their own entrance examination for selection. Some basic information to be taken to prepare for the entrance exam of this course.

1. After selecting the college, register by filling the online or offline application form.
2. Fill in the necessary details and upload the recommended documents and click submit to pay the application fee.
3. Once the results are published after the entrance the counselling and the admission process will begin.

Eligibility for the Exam

Bachelors with 50% marks from a recognized Institute. The student must qualify for the desired Entrance test that is prescribed by the Institute.

B.Des in Commercial and Industrial Design

B.Des in Commercial and Industrial Design is a 3 years undergraduate degree course that is conducted in semester mode.

Admission Process

The admission process for B.DES in Commercial and Industrial Design is quite simple and candidates are allowed for direct admission depending on the marks acquired in 10+2 level.

The process of admission is as follows:

• Visit the official website of the preferred university.
• Create a profile and login to apply.
• Fill the application form and upload the documents
• Pay the application fee and click submit.

Eligibility for the Exam

Bachelors with 50% marks from a recognized Institute. The student must qualify for the desired Entrance test that is prescribed by the Institute.

M.Des in Commercial and Industrial Design

M.Des in Commercial and Industrial Design is a two-year PG program that helps the student to pursue a career as a Commercial and Industrial Designer.

Admission Process

M.Des in Commercial and Industrial Design Admission Process is as follows:

• Students willing to take up these courses need to appear and qualify for entrance exams.
• After qualifying the entrances, the students are allowed to appear for other test rounds like Group Discussion, Writing Ability Test (WAT), Personal Interview etc.

Eligibility

A bachelor’s degree with 50% in any stream from a recognized university is an essential criterion to get admitted in this course.

How to become an Industrial Designer Abroad?

A candidate who is planning to move abroad and study to pursue a career in Industrial and Commercial design is required to pass international exams like GRE, TOEFL etc. The duration of the course may range from 1 to 3 years and the candidate must be able to communicate in English.

USA

UK

Australia

Canada

Benefits of Becoming an Industrial Designer

In big businesses, experienced designers may progress to chief designer, design department head, or other management positions. Some designers become teachers in design schools or colleges and universities. Some experienced designers open their own design firms where manufacturers visit for their consultancy.

• Job Security: Commercial and Industrial Designers with years of work experience and a good portfolio are in much demand. Candidates having more than 15 years of experience can earn 15 to 20 LPA
• Higher studies: For candidates who are working, there are short term diploma and certificate courses. Full-time degrees include Commercial and Industrial Design, Fashion designing, Product designing, Interior designing etc. However, a person can also earn a doctorate after completion of the PG Course.
• Unique Experience: Being a Commercial and Industrial Designer is a unique career and full of responsibility. Commercial and Industrial Designers get to travel to various places and get ideas about the likes and dislikes of a particular design of their consumers.

Skills Required to become an Industrial Designer

• Analytical skills. Industrial designers use reasoning and logical skills to study the mindset of their consumers and recognize the need for new designs or products.
• Artistic ability. Industrial designers create prototypes only after sketching their initial design ideas. As such, designers must have the capability to express their design through illustration and artistic sense.
• Computer skills. Computer-aided design software is required to develop their designs and create prototypes. So, an Industrial Designer must have computer skills.
• Creativity. Industrial Designers must have an innovative mentality about creating new designs and the different ways in which they blend already existing technologies into their new product.
• Interpersonal skills. Industrial Designers must develop friendly and formal working relationships with colleagues and clients who specialize in related disciplines to develop better ideas.
• Mechanical skills. Industrial designers know how products are engineered.
• Problem-solving skills. Industrial designers determine the cost, need, size of a product; develop alternatives, anticipate production issues, implement solutions and evaluate flexible options and opinions.

Salary of an Industrial Designer

Besides being hired by governmental institutes, a Commercial or Industrial Designer is also hired by some MNCs. A Commercial and Industrial Designer with 2 to 4 years of experience can expect a huge amount of salary of 11 TO 13 lakhs per annum. The job opportunities for a Commercial and Industrial Designer can be understood from the table below-

Average Annual Salary in India

Specialisation wise Salary

Gender wise Salary

Experience wise Salary