First post after just lurking! My DS applied to several schools (and received acceptances so far from UVM, UDel, Ithaca) with a vague interest in environmental or conservation fields. Very late in the applications and searching stage, I stumbled upon the idea of the Industrial Design major, and it ignited his interest immediately. He has always liked to tinker and make things and has a creative, idea-generating bent. He may still get a late-stage portfolio together to apply to a couple schools, and he applied to no a portfolio-required program at Virginia Tech. Also considering WWU (Western Washington University) on the other side of the country from us! He really wishes he could explore both paths, or that UVM offered some ID adjacent minor since he would be very happy in that location and environment. I am also worried that ID is a very specific path. No idea how this will all shake out! Not sure what feedback I’m looking for, but any thoughts would be appreciated.
They’re two completely different fields.
Industrial design is designing products for a mass scale concerning itself on the aesthetic form of the product (as opposed to engineering which shares similarities, but concerns itself on the FUNCTION of the product), and they can also work as user interaction designers. They draw, research people’s behaviors, research the market, do rapid prototyping, and computer aided models and create designs that better the world in which people live (for example, designing a potato peeler for people with Arthritis that fits within engineering parameters). Tinkering is great, as is being creative, however, does he care about the aesthetics of the world around him or the products he uses? Does he try to take something and make it better than it already is?
Industrial design is a VERY taxing major, which is why there is no “minor” also, he needs not only a portfolio, but several design related courses as well. Contact the school and find out which ones they are. Being that he’s a high school student, he might get away with not having them, and he’ll go into WWU as a pre-design major where he will work on his portfolio and apply his jr. year for industrial design and hope to get into the program. Considering the time frame to open/close the ID major is almost upon them at WWU, he’s have to learn, within a few months, industrial design sketching, which isn’t a simple task.
But if he’s dead set, he should start TOMORROW on YouTube tutorials. And work, every single day, to create a portfolio for WWU. Other universities are not as lenient as WWU (Long Beach, art center, CCA, or other design schools).
Environmental studies will likely see him working for the city or national parks, improving the environment for both people and animals alike.
The two majors are not in any way related.
This somewhat broader design program at U of Utah might interest him - he could still apply both to the U and to the Honors College if he were interested: http://design.cap.utah.edu/
U of Cincinnati has a top-notch ID program that he could still apply to - no portfolio required https://daap.uc.edu/academics/sod/programs/BS-industrial
Did he apply to CU Boulder by any chance? Their Environmental Design school might be a good fit, but we’re past the deadline now.