INDUSTRIAL DESIGN: start your own product company

Go ahead, give it a go. You might succeed, and that would be a good problem to have.

But even if you don’t, I promise you’ll understand design differently afterward. Manufacturing, pricing, marketing, sales, inventory, customer support, cash flow, and timing all change how you see the work.

You may come back bruised, poorer, and a little less romantic about the profession. But you’ll also have a much clearer understanding of where design actually fits into the bigger picture.

Most designers spend a career as one small part of a machine they never get to fully see. And once you see it, you will never quite be the same.