NDustrial Design

So is industrial design dead? No, definitely not, but it is changing and you need to be able to adapt to future prospects in order to remain competitive. I distinctly remember a lecture by one of my professors back in 2010 and he was telling us all that industrial design was dead. Now keep in mind t It was Over a decade later, I can thankfully say that he was wrong, but I do t So I sat down with Ryan He's an industrial designer turned brand manager and now he runs Here's how we defined traditional industrial design. In terms of the era of traditional industrial design, probably the roughly the 1920s to the 1970s. So New is better, media monoculture where everyone cons They also have little else to compare your product to because the offerings are highly constrained by physical distribution, large department stores, Sears and Roebuck and Blooming Dales, the big mid 20th century institutions that were like how basically how the average cons As the industrial designer, you're prescribed a specific product to design, whether that's a ranch or faucet or sunglasses or whatever else. You'd run some usability tests and maybe make some stylistic changes and end up with a product at the end. Now that'still the core of industrial design, but there's an increased emphasis on systems t So for example, a lot of devices are being consolidated and iPhone basically replaces several other devices. It's not just a phone. It's a watch, GPS system, camera, etc, etc. And as a result, there's less of a need for industrial designers to make lots of different individual products and more of a need for industrial designers to understand how all of these t Now most of my design work over the last few years almost always was part of a larger system. There's usually a software component or you need to be t Here's an example. When I was working on my startup, Protos Eyewear, were doing 3D printed frames that were tailored. They were customized and bespoke to each individual customer's unique features. T And we not only had to design the frames that were beautiful and fit many people well. We also needed to design a way to quickly make adjustments to the frames based on each individual's facial dimensions. We needed to design a system to accurately record customers measurements over the internet. We didn't usually have them available to us in person. We needed to design an identification system for each individual frame on the factory line so we knew w And it's been the same t Whether it's ret Now you could argue that it's because I'm becoming a more senior designer, but I there's more options for distribution, more options for specialization, and more options for marketing. When Brick and Mortar retail was king, it was basically T But it's also really exciting because there are just so many options. By the way, you should totally subscribe. It's free. It motivates me to make more content Back to the video. Legacy cons And just the structure of large cons One could say that they're kind of counter positioned to each other. One business can use a strategy where if their competitor tried to imitate their strategy, they would destroy their own business. Netflix and Blockbuster is one of the main examples. Blockbuster was making an enormous amount of its revenue off of late fees and Netflix just said no late fees. Brick and mortar just is not king anymore. It's not king of distribution. Anyone can post up a product online. Now that's both a good t It's good because it gives power to individuals. It's a bad t And the main problem now is getting your work noticed by the right people. So in addition to making a product that is beautiful and functions well, which has always sort of been And in addition to t So how are you going to present the information about your product before it was decided for you? Your product was guaranteed to be on a shelf in a retail store with a whole bunch of other products. But now there are a bunch of different avenues. Maybe it makes sense to make a YouTube video. Maybe you need to show it through Instagram. Maybe you'll start a Discord channel to sort of build your community. The key here is to t Another t So with YouTube, you can learn pretty much anyt And with digital tools, it's much easier to get an adequate or proficient result. Anyone can get a license of key shot and come out with a super photo realistic rendering with a few days of training. Compare that with a pre digital era where you'd have to train for years to be able to proficiently create a There are only a few places you can learn the skills, usually at big educational institutions. And it would take years to master the skills. But because anyone can learn the skills these days, it's just not as impressive anymore. Now I want to make somet To reach the biggest difference now is that there's just far more average designers there who can p And because the barrier to entry is much lower, the standard has gotten much The best portfolio from when I graduated in 2011 wouldn't even be able to get you an interview now. The good news is that there'still a lot that you can do. Your training and design is still as valuable as ever. Let'say you want to do peer industrial design still. I mentioned systems that's important. But another t So you can either specialize in a certain product category, or you can specialize in a certain skill set. So for example, Tim Zarkey specializes in product rendering, and he's basically built a personal business out of making He's not just a rendering artist or a concept artist. He is specifically focused on rendering products. And t By the way, t So Zarkey, feel free to send me a check in the mail. I appreciate it very much. So me, for example, I have a focus on ergonomics and wearables. There's a heavy emphasis on fas And I especially focus on objects that fit on or around the head. Or even more specifically, objects that fit on or around the eyes. So T I still do work on other product categories, but wearables and ergonomics are kind of my bread and butter. It's probably 70% of the work that I do. Another way to get a better understanding of systems t So maybe you'really interested in branding or business development or mechanical engineering. Remember what were saying before about how it's relatively easy to reach a proficient level in any skill because of all the learning tools that are online now? Well, now is your chance to learn industrial design and business development or industrial design and mechanical engineering. T And last but certainly not least, you can also explore micro entrepreneurs You can find a small, tiny niche market that would otherwise never be accessible to you without the internet. And that's exactly what Ryan H T And basically the idea is if you can get a thousand people to spend $100 on your products every year, you've got yourself a personal business. No big business would ever focus on there aren't enough users, but he has a small team that can probably fit at a dinner table and Without the internet and all these new marketing and distribution channels, he never would have been able to start a business And I know that designers love variety and novelty. You don't need to commit to one t I've been focusing on t I also teach part time at California College of the Arts. I'm learning about computational and generative design as well. Both of these t My point here is that you can try many different t I there are plenty of new opportunities for people willing to explore adjacent fields and make the most of their skills. You can learn anyt It's just a matter of exploring a few different avenues and committing to expanding your craft. Always be t Fortune favors the bold, so get out there and have fun and learn somet You're already on the right path by watching videos Now take the next step and make it happen. I also have a much longer discussion with Ryan H I'll be posting it on t I'll leave a link to that in the description. Thanks again guys for listening to the video. I hope you learned somet If you've made it t I'd really appreciate it if you subscribed and have a great day.