Made this standing desk with white oak plywood. Made for my workflow of drafting on the left, CAD in the middle, printing on the right. No fasteners are visible on this desk and it is measured precisely to be comfortable for my height and elbows.

Lmk

Hi all, I'm looking into master's programs for industrial design and would love some honest perspective from people in the field. I'm in NYC and have no formal ID background.

Background:

I'm about 9 years into my career. I started in tech consulting at a Big 4 firm and hated it, so I switched to construction and spent about 5 years in project management. I loved it for a while, but the hours and lifestyle weren't sustainable. For the past 3 years I've been in construction tech, on both the pre- and post-sales side.

Honestly, the work feels meaningless to me and getting through each day is a struggle. The one constant is that I'm happiest when I'm making things. I paint, sculpt, collage, and work in pretty much any medium. I also love practical problems, like building something I actually need with limited resources. I'm always studying the objects around me and thinking about how to make them work better.

Where I'm stuck:

By the time I'd finish applying and start a program, I'd be 32 or 33. I like a good pivot, but I want to know if this is too late to build a meaningful ID career, or if I'd be too far behind peers who started in their early 20s. I think my construction and project management experience could be an asset, but I'd like to hear whether that holds up from people in the industry.

Some Qs:

• Does the age and background gap matter to hiring managers, or does the portfolio (that I assume I would build in school) carry most of the weight?
• Is a master's the right route for someone with no ID background, or would a certificate, a bootcamp, or building a portfolio first make more sense?
• Where could a background like mine fit best?

TYIA!

PS. I'm thinking about the MID at Pratt in case anyone has any strong feelings on that.

Never thought I would spend this much time thinking about buttons and screens but here we are

The Bambu Lab A1 has that little touchscreen on the base The Prusa MK4S goes with a screen and a physical knob

Then theres stuff like the Aliencell E1 where the camera view and software are part of setting up a job

Different machines different ways of doing things

It is got me wondering how much of this comes down to personal preference I tend to like physical controls for some things but software makes sense for others

What's a tiny design detail on a tool that you really like? Or one that you just cant get used to?

Hello everybody,

I'm a 3rd year ID bachelor student at the University of Bologna, Italy, currently on an Erasmus semester at the University of Twente studying IDE.

During these months and after visiting the Design Week in Eindhoven I'm realising that I would love to do a master in IDE here in the Netherlands. My top choices for the moment are the big 3: TU Delft, TU Eindhoven and Twente (where I am now).

I would like to hear from you guys (especially if you study or you have studied IDE at one of these schools) what you think about the admission process (is it hard?) and quality of education at these Universities, or generally if you have any advice or anything to say at all.

Thank you!

I hate carrying my mints around in noisy or cheap containers. I have concept for a premium cnc aluminum, reloadable mint dispenser. Making the everyday habit feel more professional and enjoyable.

It will have a heavy tactical feel. Initially dispense an existing mint or eventually a special caffeine, vitamin line. Looking for criticism, thoughts and general discussion. This is a me project, but wonder if anyone else would consider one.

Hi,

Are there any good online industrial design courses in English that you would recommend.

For additional context, I am 50 years old, an accountant by profession, reached as far as I'm willing to go in my commercial career. I'm now an independent consultant in a highly specialized field, unrelated to the finance world. I've always had a keen interest in design, though have never pursued it.

I'd like to do an online, part-time course that will enable me to understand design concepts, prototyping and material usage (amongst other foundational knowledge areas). I'm doing the course primarily for my own interest. I'm not looking at this as a career change, rather to enhance my interest into a somewhat doable hobby/tiny side hustle (if it even ever comes to that).

Thanks in advance.

I am testing a workflow for a small made-to-order physical object from a reference image. An early 3D model makes a useful visual preview, but it has not gone through a physical build. In digital tests, strengthening thin areas visibly changed fine details on two shapes. The later production check and expert review are still planned.

If a customer has seen the early preview, when would you ask for actual design approval when the production version may look different?

Here in my country, an industrial designer essentially handles a vast array of tasks—ranging from technical work and management to presentations, and so on—and I’m thinking about expanding my scope to take on projects in other sectors.

Studying in person would mean relocating to another country, so I'd love to get a clearer picture of what might be the best path forward for me. Any advice or experiences would be greatly appreciated.

I already have a bachelor's degree in Graphic Design and I'm looking into online master's programs in Industrial Design.

I have (over the past few months) begun delving into woodwork and product ddesign. Possibly as a career change, but (for now) it is just for fun.

This is the first project/design that uses timber in multiple parts, combining it with additive manufacturing techniques to form a lamp.

It has been a great learning process, and I hope to build on this to create more complex projects!

Hey! I'm an industrial design student, and for the past year I've been working on my own parametric design software, VASE 3D.

I've always loved the incredible things you can create with computational design, but I've found the process of exploring forms can be unnecessarily complicated.

I wanted something that felt more like sketching or sculpting, while still giving you precise control over silhouettes, proportions, complex geometry, and surface details.

Here's a look at what I've been working on! I'd love to hear what fellow industrial designers think of the approach.

Hi everyone, I am a graduate in Industrial Design in Vietnam and I have worked for about a 1-2 years in Furniture Design/Manufacture industry, b2b to foreign retailers. So far it's alright, but I always have a feeling of "Do we really need another chair/table design that just look slightly different than every other one?"

Should I switch field, or studying higher/ something else? I have a hobby with public space and public transportation, like tram or trains, with how it benefits the masses and such.

Thank you all.

Hi Everyone! I am running a quick user research survey to understand the workflow and challenges early-career creators face today. With the rise of Agentic AI, we want to know how we can incorporate hardware and understand how we can enhance Agentic AI into your workflow or where Agentic AI can be used in it!

If you have 1 to 5 years of experience in video editing, product design, or architecture (or just use any form of creative software), please take 3 minutes to share your thoughts here and you will automatically be entered into a raffle for a $25 gift card at the end!:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeiKMQXXiVW-U74yc19KrmIkQpANU5mtudor9nJYKR2WO3apA/viewform?usp=dialog

Thank you for your time and input!

Just finished this v1 of a floor lamp. Would love thoughts and feedback. The stem is capacitive with three brightness levels. Last photo is in progress

Working on a design project prototype right now (doesn’t have to be perfect but as close as it can get). I’m doing some material research and looking for a translucent sheet or film that behaves like frosted glass (that I can stick to acrylic) using which an image behind it should be significantly blurred at roughly 8mm away, but visible when it’s closer, around 2mm(preferred) or 0.

Constraints:

I'm not using backlighting for the image, so just the light from the side of the acrylic should be enough.

Surface-frost effect preferred over a milky/opal look, so colours stay fairly crisp up close

So far I’m considering matte polyester drafting film, frosted window films, spray frosting the acrylic itself. Has anyone compared materials like these at different gap distances, or know a better option? Any tips on adhesives that don’t clear up the frost would also be appreciated. Though if the frost is one sided I could just use adhesive on the other side.

I haven’t decided on the image behind yet so maybe if anyone has any idea of different art styles that could work with this kind of concept (show through when close and blur significantly at around 8mm distance) please let me know.

Hey all, I’m not a designer, but I’d appreciate opinions of people whose into the industry. I wanted to get a custom TV wall and the carpenter added the shelves completely out of design and he thinks he did an amazing job and told me it’s irreversible. I’m trying to get used to it, maybe after adding books on the shelves and a big tv on the cabinet would make it look more tolerable. I’m really trying to love it because I spent a fortune for the material and it’s a good quality tv unit.

Been building Tequila with Claude for a while: a free, open-source app for product renders. It renders with Cycles, Blender’s engine, but in a simple workspace made just for product shots. Drop in a CAD model, drag on materials, hit render.

It comes with 300+ procedural materials, supports plugins, and runs on Windows and Mac. It could be a handy quick tool for students or freelancers who need nice product shots without pricey software.

I described what I wanted, Claude wrote the code, and I stared at a lot of renders. Still rough, but I’m pretty proud of it. Feedback welcome!

https://github.com/ifpintac/tequila

right now am in 4th year of design college (grad year) and am thinking of buying a graphic tablet, am pretty average at drawing on paper so i thought i would draw somewhat better stuff on a tablet, thing is idk if drawing on paper is better or the tablet is better, what do you guys think?

Hey everyone! I’m working on an enclosure for a small hardware device and trying out a few different looks.

Which one would you go for? Feel free to leave your pick in the comments—I’d love to hear what you like about it too!

I notice that it's sometimes hard to conduct research since it's hard to find the exact information I need.For example,target user.Are there any tips for research or is it better to just use Gemini?