Which path to go for product design/usability/human factors?
I don’t have a degree in any of these fields, but I’ve worked with people who have most of them. I used to be a prototype model maker, and my biggest account was with a major faucet and bathroom accessory company. I worked most directly with the industrial designers, who were in charge of the (surprise) design of the products. They established the shape and functionality of the products. The engineers only got involved downstream of the design phase. Their role was to figure out how to make the product physically possible, and to make it cheaper by finding ways to incorporate existing components and minimize the need for new tooling. There was certainly a feedback loop (Designers: “We want it to look like this.”; Engineers: “No, you have to make it fatter here to accomodate valve# XJ-12.”) but the engineers were pretty thoroughly isolated from the human-factor design issues you’re interested in. As a non-artsy type you wouldn’t get a job creating highly sculptural stuff like faucets an
I have a BS in Engineering Psychology and MS in Human Factors Engineering from Tufts University. I graduated over 10 years ago and got a great education. The advisers have changed since I was there though, but I would imagine it’s still a good program. I’m currently a voice user interface designer. BTW, you can check out the HFES’ list of undergrad and grad programs here: http://www.hfes.org/web/Students/undergradprograms.html http://www.hfes.org/web/Students/grad_programs.html I would suggest doing some “informational interviews” with people doing work in different fields that you are interested in. You can learn more about what they do and the types of education and experience that it took them to get there. The great thing about Human Factors is that it’s so versatile. You’ll learn a great set of skills that could be applied to consumer product design, web design, GUI design, medical devices, speech recognition, etc.
Just to reiterate that I very much doubt industrial engineering is what you are looking for. In the UK at least, it tends to involve more logistics, supply chain management and factory related issues. I do not know an industrial engineering graduate who works on the design side. Might be different in the US. If you were in the UK, I would recommend product design (PDE) or possibly mechanical engineering. Product design involves much more of the usability, ergonomics and in-depth design factors that you like. Mechanical engineering involves much more calculations and science. Hence mechanical engineering is seen as a ‘stronger’ degree in that it is broader and there is probably a wider range of jobs you could do afterwards (several of my mech eng friends had no trouble working in product design, for example). PDE has more of the design aspects you mention, so you will probably enjoy it more. Again, I’m from the UK so I’d be grateful if anyone could add to this. NeoLeo are you doing this
I’d like to add some more info and another question. Thanks to the replies here, I’ve found that industrial design doesn’t have to be artsy, but it can be. Apparently, there are some conflicts about this even in the industrial design community, that many designers nowadays are overly focused on aesthetic rather than function. So my question then, is: “What schools are focused moreso on the functional element of design rather than the artistic element?” I’ll be asking the Core77 forum as well shortly. I just can’t help shake the feeling that many of the top industrial design schools expect people to be art-oriented. I’m primarily interested in issues like functionality, sustainability, efficiency, profitability, usability, etc. in product design rather than the artistic side. I
Okay, so after more research, I’ve concluded there are several routes to go: –Product Design: Mechanical Engineering/Industrial Design –Human Factors (work efficiency/ergonomics/supply line efficiency/work safety): Industrial Engineering, Human Factors –Human Factors (usability of products): Cognitive Psychology, Human Factors –Human Factors (usability of software/web design): study some psychology (includes Cognitive Psychology majors), study programming (including Computer Science majors), study web/graphic design (includes Graphic Design majors); Human Factors and/or Human Computer Interaction (aka HCI) Been doing tons of research in schools for the past few days. It’s been hard to find schools in California which are willing to take second baccalaureate students because many schools are impacted! I’m now deciding between these potential routes…
