Industrial design technology is a broad field that encompasses many aspects of product and industrial design. Other smaller fields that are more like niche areas that are demarcated from the broader field of industrial design exist within this broad area. People who study industrial design usually specialize in one of the many subfields within the larger field, and industrial design jobs are filled by people who specialize in those subfields. Automobile design, equipment design, consumer product design, and plant design are all examples of industrial design jobs.
Automobile design in the context of industrial design is focused on the development of concepts related to the design and production of vehicles, as the name implies. This includes the development of vehicle aerodynamic characteristics, as well as the design of modern and unique vehicles that reflect the brand’s ideals. Some vehicle manufacturers, for example, may have concepts in mind that they would like to incorporate into their vehicles. If this is the case, they could hire car designers to fully develop and implement the concepts, transforming them from mere concepts into tangible products that reflect both the design and the physical technology aspects.
Consumer products design is a branch of industrial design that deals with the everyday products that people use for various purposes, ranging from personal items to more formal and impersonal items. The products could be anything from personalized items to the more common mass-produced items. The designer’s goal in this type of industrial design is to always meet a market need or improve on products that already exist on the market. Industrial designers may work for a specific company or use their own initiative to identify a need and develop a concept, or they may work for a specific company to develop specific products. They can do this by conducting consumer surveys to identify areas where there is a market gap, or they can use more creative approaches.
The field of plant design is also included in industrial design jobs. This type of industrial design refers to industrial plants where various manufacturing processes take place. A refinery is an example of a plant that could be designed under this category of industrial design jobs.