Overheard at SF Design Week
Insights from conversations about the state of the ID industry.
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Last week was San Francisco Design Week and almost all the industrial design firms in the city had open studios.
I went to eight different studios and talked to a lot of designers (and quite a few readers and LinkedIn followers!) about the current state of the industry. Here are a few insights I gathered from those conversations.
SF is still the place to be for industrial designers
I arrived in San Francisco 12 years ago. Even then it was one of the most expensive cities in the world and I moved here with an internship that paid $20 an hour. A bit of a gamble, I’ll admit.
I did that because I knew it was the national, maybe even global, epicenter of technology, innovation, and design. I had faith (and blind optimism) that I would be able to make a career here doing the kind of design I wanted to do.
That gamble paid off. Since arriving in SF I’ve designed numerous technology products, worked with some of the top innovators in Silicon Valley, and became a partner at a well respected industrial design firm.
12 years on, a few economic ups and downs, a global pandemic, and countless New York Times articles predicting the end times for SF later, I still believe it is the best place for an industrial designer to be.
This was evident at SF Design Week with just the sheer number and density of design studios in the city, most of which are less than a 10 minute drive from my house. These include some of the top names in the industry, doing design work that is recognized worldwide.
Every open studio I went to was abuzz with an energy that would be difficult to find somewhere where design and creativity weren’t such a large part of the city’s culture and economy. Silicon Valley’s spirit of innovation goes hand in hand with the craft of design.
Designers clearly recognize this, either by already being here, or visiting here specifically for SF Design Week. Many young designers I spoke with were from out of town, just here to soak it up.
If you are looking to be an industrial designer, find your way to SF.
SF is to industrial design what New York is to fashion.
The industry is in transition
There was one word that was unavoidable in a lot of my conversations: layoffs.
The last decade or so was a boom time for industrial design studios in the SF Bay Area, riding on the coat tails of big tech and benefiting from a the business world’s buy-in on the value of design.
But boom times don’t last forever, and delayed economic effects from COVID and recent sudden shocks to the system (like the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank) have put a lot of pressure on design firms large and small.
Payroll is usually a design firm’s largest expense, and when things get tough, the fastest way to preserve the bottom line is unfortunately to cut staff.
This SF Design Week, there were a lot of whispered conversations about which firm had laid off how many designers, and it was tough to hear that so many well regarded firms had to downsize.
However, on the flip side, the prediction that I made in January this year that these economic circumstances would be a boon for freelancers and smaller agencies seemed to be coming true.
While many larger firms were laying people off, from my conversations it sounded like contractors and freelancers were busier than ever. This has also been my own personal experience as an independent designer this year.
Clients still need to design things, they’ve just suddenly found their budgets reduced and need to find leaner ways to get things done. And this means they’re more likely to work with a contractor than the design firm with the slick marketing and the big shiny office. After all, if their budget is limited, they want to pay you for the design work, not your overhead costs.
It feels like a time of transition for the industry. I’m sure many of the bigger name firms will survive and thrive again, but some may fade into design history. New names will pop up and start to become known. Some of those solo designers that are benefiting from this current economy may grow their own firms. It’s the circle of life.
If you were recently laid off, now might be a good time to try going solo. If you are already solo, you might try going for some stretch clients that you maybe thought were out of reach before. They might just be looking for someone like you.
Design and entrepreneurship are two peas in a pod
Designers often have a binary view of their career opportunities: work for a design firm or work in-house. Get paid a salary + benefits.
This SF Design Week, I heard a lot more talk from designers about forgoing both of these options (either by choice or due to lack of opportunity) and starting their own business ventures, whether its their own studio, launching their own products, or a side hustle.
There was also a lot more entrepreneurial work on display, from Shorebird, an outdoor chair company that grew out of design firm Box Clever’s venture arm, to Gantri’s 3D printed, made-to-order lighting crafted by independent designers and sold on a royalty model.
Designers make natural entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurship is simply understanding your customer, creating solutions that solve their problems, and charging money for it. Sound familiar?
With the continuing growth of the internet economy, the reduced friction in doing business across borders, and the sudden explosion of AI technology as a catalyst, it’s a great time for designers to think beyond the traditional fee-for-service model of design work.
Asian design has arrived
For the longest time, Asia has been seen as the place where things get made, but not designed (at least in the West).
Designed in California. Made in China.
Asia has (sometimes rightly) been characterized as a place of high manufacturing prowess but low respect for intellectual property. Asian design has often been written off as being unoriginal and mostly copycat garbage. Not exactly where design thrives.
So I think a lot of designers were intrigued when they heard of a Korean design firm setting up shop in SF. It was the first time I had heard of an Asian design firm jumping over to the US market. Usually its the other way around (IDEO, Frog, and many other big design firms have offices in Asia).
Seoul and SF-based design firm Bebop’s open studio was probably one of the most well-attended that I went to, and co-founder Rich Park gave us a look at his studio’s stylish and beautiful work for many well-known Asian brands and technology startups.
Seeing design from Asia making its way into the American market is a really inspiring development for me, myself being an Asian designer living in America. It shows that perhaps Western perceptions of Asia are changing, and that barriers to a more global design marketplace are coming down.
I’ll be watching them closely.
It’s still tough to break in
When I was looking for my first design job, I remember the industry feeling so opaque. It was hard to understand how I was supposed to get a job in something I supposedly spent 4 years training for.
From my conversations with students and young professionals throughout SF Design Week, it seems that many are experiencing the same thing I did.
Luckily I think there are many more resources available to young designers looking to break in these days. From upskilling programs like Offsite, to free design educational resources on YouTube, to the reachability of working professionals via networks like LinkedIn.
My best advice would be to take advantage of all these resources and make sure you are putting your best foot forward with a killer portfolio, get creative with how you network and market yourself, and believe that you will be able to get a job that allows you to put that design education to work.
Industrial design has always been a competitive field, simply because it’s a niche profession and there are more graduating students than there are jobs. But hopefully my weekly list of job postings will show you that there are plenty of opportunities out there in all kinds of product categories.
It was certainly an interesting week. Thanks to everyone who had a chat with me at all of these events, and hopefully see you again next SF Design Week!
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Enerpac Tool Group - Industrial Design Intern
Menomonee Falls WI
Tools
0 years experience minimum
Hamilton Beach Brands, Inc. - Intern - Business
Glen Allen VA
Appliances
0 years experience minimum
Oracle Lighting - Industrial Designer
Metairie LA
Lighting
$50,000 a year
0 years experience minimum
Jem Accessories - Senior Packaging Designer
Edison NJ
Packaging
Up to $90,000 a year
3 years experience minimum
Big Ass Fans - Industrial Designer
Lexington KY
Equipment
5 years experience minimum
Implus - Industrial Designer
Carlsbad CA
Footwear
5 years experience minimum
MillerKnoll - Product Designer
Holland MI
Furniture
2-5 years experience minimum
Scout Motors - Manager, Modeling & Fabrication
Detroit MI
Automotive
5 years experience minimum
Lifetime Brands - Industrial Designer
Garden City NY
Kitchen and bath products
$68,000 - $73,000 a year
2-5 years experience minimum
Logoplaste - Technical Packaging Designer
Plainfield IL
Packaging
$45,000 a year
2 years experience minimum
goodr - Senior Industrial Designer
Inglewood CA
Accessories
$140,000 - $165,000 a year
7 years experience minimum
My Spa Life - Senior Packaging Designer
Edison NJ
Packaging
$60,000 - $80,000 a year
3 years experience minimum
Crown Equipment Corporation - Industrial Designer
New Bremen OH
Equipment
2-7 years experience minimum
Apple - Apple Industrial Design Accepting Portfolios
Cupertino CA
Consumer electronics
0 years experience minimum
Navistar, Inc. - Sr. Industrial Designer -Transportation/Automotive
Lisle IL
Automotive
2 years experience minimum
Cubitac - Wood and Composite Materials Industrial Designer
Ridgefield NJ
Furniture
From $30 an hour
5 years experience minimum
SharkNinja Operating LLC - Industrial Design Co-Op
Needham MA
Appliances
2 years experience minimum
Allegion - Industrial Design Co-op
Indianapolis IN
Security products
0 years experience minimum
Moen - Industrial Designer
North Olmsted OH
Kitchen and bath products
3 years experience minimum
Sterilite Corporation - Jr. Industrial Designer / Product Designer
Townsend MA
Home goods
0-1 years experience minimum