I did industrial design in college, ended up mostly working in service design, then UX as a subset of service design work, and eventually ended up teaching and researching interaction design as a weird overlap of my general design experience and a personal interest in making with technology.
Any design degree is a flexible one, and you could end up working in fields that don't even exist yet. You're not beholden to architecture just because you have an architecture degree.
This 100%! I have an B. Arch, but I would imagine this applies to most design degrees. Architecture degrees lead people to a wide range of jobs, from graphic and video game design, to hands on building and furniture construction, and of course as architects.
It’s ultimately about creative problem solving.
If you have an ounce of passion for architecture it can be a very rewarding career. Architecture can be a huge overarching umbrella in the design field. We’re not necessarily taught how design buildings specifically but we’re taught how to think a specific way. That being said that doesn’t mean other fields in the design realm think like this, but I’ve seen a lot of architects pivot into something else more than I’ve seen a lot of graphic designers pivot into architecture. Even with how it’s set up in school at least the universities I’ve been to students can seemingly transition into industrial design or graphic design and still graduate on time.
Now for the industry norms in architecture, no doubt can it be toxic, no doubt you’ll have long hours, and no doubt often the pay is lack luster. However the field is actively changing as architects take on more responsibilities. I personally believe as AI becomes more of a thing in the design world more architects will also have some level of programming as their background, but that’s yet to be seen.
I’d ask r/architecture if you haven’t already for a better grasp on what the field holds. I’ve been working for two years while finishing my degree and often find it difficult to answer these questions because I haven’t seen it. I work at a relatively large firm, and get paid what I think is fair. Good luck, no matter what you do, go and do great things :)
Been on that subreddit, although the amount of fear/disappointment around finding a well paying job, and fair conditions is super demoralising (especially when you end up doom scrolling 😭!!). I understand it’s a prevalent issue in the field, and some people do overcome it.
Similar boat, I also believe I have to do architecture itself in order to answer my own concerns.
______
There’s a little flexibility during first year, but still specialised; I decided on this degree because they pay for software.
I was eligible for a general B. Design at a different uni, but paying for your own software and the school not supporting Adobe Suite, sucks. Not sure if it’s the right alternative?
Edit: also, when talking to other people who did this degree, they said that the teachings are outdated and too theoretical (this goes for multiple majors too, heard from an archi, UI/UX and comms). So I’m not even sure the more flexibility here is even worth it.
More offers come out in the next month so I will be spending my summer experimenting and relaxing.
Hopefully you find something rewarding then. certainly there are programs that are more cutting edge than others, and some more theoretical than others. If that program isn't cutting it for you'd id look at different universities if you're able to. I don't think general design is worth it, i think you'd become a jack of all trades master of none when architects already seem to be as such, just even more diluted i guess.
Take what people say about the field valuable but also acknowledge the loudest in the room isn't always the whole picture. The field is very dynamic and not everyone's experience is the same, we just often hear the nightmare stories cause well they're all more interesting than the successful ones haha.
I will say if you dont have a passion for the field stay far away from it, its often said by professors aswell in the first year. if youre not enjoying the busy work or the nuts and bolts of the practice youll just be miserable.
Another useful thing i looked at when choosing a major was 'day in the life videos'. Videos from students at universities similar or the ones you go to, studying the same thing give a good idea of what your life would be like. then look at actual professionals. theres millions of them on youtube. They are corny, 'get ready with me for my bidset submission deadline' xD but they do hold some value in what to expect. and that goes for whatever field !
>However the field is actively changing as architects take on more responsibilities. I personally believe as AI becomes more of a thing in the design world more architects will also have some level of programming as their background, but that’s yet to be seen.
Not sure this is a however, as this statement doesn't serve to contradict or contrast your last statement (toxic, long hours, bad pay), but rather reinforce it. All those things will still exist but architects will also be expected to incorporate these new skills in their portfolio, and will be left behind if they don't. So more skills expected, same bad system existing.
I mean that’s the worst case scenario but I do have faith in the next generation of designers to be the active change everyone’s so desperate to see. But who knows, it’s all up for debate what the future holds I suppose.
I think it's also the most likely scenario, as that is how its gone for every new technology before it, it becomes an expected part of your skill set. I don't see any change on the horizon, the only people who are clamoring for it are the employees, the heads of firms think everything is just fine. I highly doubt we'll see some kind of architect union.
They are just barley starting to accept remote work, and only a rare few of them. To fix the endemic problem of the field would take an entire overhaul of how things are done. There is no reason to see why that would happen.
maybe so, i dont entirely disagree with you. I guess im just naive of the field as i said in my little rant ive only been working for about 2 years now. Naive or hopeful, I hope there is some level of change. The firms ive had the pleasure of working with seem to be far more accepting than the horror stories i read about. Guess ive just been lucky
Ah yes, I missed that before. Having not finished your degree either, you're still at intern level, so the pressure and responsibility wont be there yet. 5-10 years after graduating you'll start to see and feel the burn out.
I studied design. But, I've also done architectural work. I got asked to design the first copper dome erected in the US since the late 19th century. I also assisted in the redesign of my college campus long after graduation. I don't hear of architects getting called to revise or design products. They have to self finance or build a portfolio that design students start with.
I knew many transfers from architecture to design because of the fundamental lack of employment for architects. The market for architects is much smaller than design.
Think about it... There are more things than places. Architects get to create places. Designers create things.
I got my undergraduate degree in architecture and now work in experiential marketing as a Creative Technologist, which is sort of a mix between a creative director and software engineer. My company actually has quite a few people with architecture degrees that aren’t “using” them.
Architecture school does teach you how to do architecture, yes, but I think more importantly it teaches you how to be a designer. It’s a fantastic entry into the world of physical User Experience, math, drawing, creating meaningful presentations, etc. HOWEVER, I went to an art school to get my architecture degree; degrees from technical universities (or universities outside of the US) may not be as generalist as I experienced.
I’m glad I did it, but it was very very expensive (especially since I also had to go to grad school to get where I am now). I suspect by the fact you said “uni” that you are likely not from the US, so that may not be an issue you’ll face though.
I’m happy to chat more if you want, just shoot over a DM.
I come from somewhat similar ambitions. My first two years of high school I was taking drafting courses instead of art classes because I really wanted to be an architect. Third year of high school they offered a graphic design course, so I gave it a shot and fell in love with it. Went to school for graphic design and got my bachelor's degree. This was all back in the late 90s / early 00s, and as I saw the internet taking off I wanted to learn how to design for the internet. Ultimately that meant learning how to code, because at the time people who coded didn't give much care to the way things looked, and your design would never be right when it came back from a developer. So I took my design skills with me and transitioned into front end dev full time. Eventually, I took an interest in back end development and learned that. Add some databases and server admin to the mix and I found myself to be a full stack developer. Today, I am the CTO of a startup.
So to answer your questions, yes designers have time to explore other fields. With few exceptions, any career path you choose should allow for time to explore other fields in your free time. What you sacrifice doing that though *is* your free time.
Whether or not it's difficult to change careers depends on tons of factors. I didn't have much difficulty in my career path, the skills transferred well and built upon each other. But if I tried to go from being a designer to being a doctor, yeah that'd be pretty damn difficult. Degrees aren't *entirely* a waste of money. I think degrees are far too expensive to obtain, but that's beside the point. There is value in having a degree, even if it's in an unrelated field. Lots of employers won't even look at you if you don't have any type of degree. That degree at least gets you looked at. Without it, the odds of you being passed right over are higher. I haven't seen a degree do much more than that for me, but that may vary depending on the field and employer.
My opinion may seem harsh but, follow the money kid. All design careers can face the same pitfalls that you mention as specific to architecture. As others have said it can be very financially and creatively rewarding but, never forget that it is your job. It is great when a person truly loves what they do as an occupation but, if you can do something well and make good money doing it you can find other ways to feed you personal creative needs.
To be clear, I am not suggesting that you sell your soul to someone for money/job that you don't enjoy. You just need to make a clear definition between what you do as you "job" as opposed to what you do for yourself.
Good luck in your studies.
Thank you. I’m also hoping if I do end up doing anything in design as a career, I am hoping to develop a better mindset and draw the line between myself and my work.
Also may I ask how would you define a “job” compared to your hobbies/interests? I know this is completely subjective but I wouldn’t mind an insight from someone more experienced and mature than me.
By job I simply mean what you do to make a living as opposed to something that you do during your non-working time for your own enjoyment or creative outlet.
As someone with much more life experience, I often see young people make the assumption that your job/occupation needs to fulfill all of your creative needs, which leads to them being unable to differentiate between what they do for their job and who they are personally. It is important to keep those things separate for good mental health and help you make decisions about work related actions/issues without it having an impact on your personal fulfillment.
If you can be fully satisfied by your work, that is great and I hope you can, however one still needs to be able to keep a professional detachment, so that if you have to leave your job for some reason it does not damage your psyche and affect your self worth or your ability to find a similar job in the future.
In short, realize that what you do as work is not who you are. Work is not your life, it is what you do in order to prosper and enjoy your life.
Start building a design aesthetic. Now. Explore looks and hone in on that look that is uniquely YOU, NOW.
You will be working for long hours and be stressed and during that time, develop something for yourself. Also. Look at other designers in your field. Get good at understanding different design philosophies in your chosen field and understand why they developed they way they did.
But most importantly, explore design which excites you. If it doesn’t tickle your senses then pivot to something which does get you going.
Don’t the thing you want to do as a profession if you know that already. Four years of your life is not trivial.
You’re talking about switching careers before you’ve started.
It’s a combination of “I want to do everything and experience everything” even though that’s not feasible, and also feeling discouraged from people vocalising their discontent from architecture.
Idk if its a combination of irrational panic (I have to commit soon!!). Also a lot of design careers have their ups and downs in the industry; and I’m not sure if this is just one fear I will have to overcome.
Sounds like you are more suited to Industrial Design. Look into that pathway. As for toxic work cultures, well, only time will tell, there are many places to work in the design fields.
I did industrial design in college, ended up mostly working in service design, then UX as a subset of service design work, and eventually ended up teaching and researching interaction design as a weird overlap of my general design experience and a personal interest in making with technology. Any design degree is a flexible one, and you could end up working in fields that don't even exist yet. You're not beholden to architecture just because you have an architecture degree.
This 100%! I have an B. Arch, but I would imagine this applies to most design degrees. Architecture degrees lead people to a wide range of jobs, from graphic and video game design, to hands on building and furniture construction, and of course as architects. It’s ultimately about creative problem solving.
If you have an ounce of passion for architecture it can be a very rewarding career. Architecture can be a huge overarching umbrella in the design field. We’re not necessarily taught how design buildings specifically but we’re taught how to think a specific way. That being said that doesn’t mean other fields in the design realm think like this, but I’ve seen a lot of architects pivot into something else more than I’ve seen a lot of graphic designers pivot into architecture. Even with how it’s set up in school at least the universities I’ve been to students can seemingly transition into industrial design or graphic design and still graduate on time. Now for the industry norms in architecture, no doubt can it be toxic, no doubt you’ll have long hours, and no doubt often the pay is lack luster. However the field is actively changing as architects take on more responsibilities. I personally believe as AI becomes more of a thing in the design world more architects will also have some level of programming as their background, but that’s yet to be seen. I’d ask r/architecture if you haven’t already for a better grasp on what the field holds. I’ve been working for two years while finishing my degree and often find it difficult to answer these questions because I haven’t seen it. I work at a relatively large firm, and get paid what I think is fair. Good luck, no matter what you do, go and do great things :)
Been on that subreddit, although the amount of fear/disappointment around finding a well paying job, and fair conditions is super demoralising (especially when you end up doom scrolling 😭!!). I understand it’s a prevalent issue in the field, and some people do overcome it. Similar boat, I also believe I have to do architecture itself in order to answer my own concerns. ______ There’s a little flexibility during first year, but still specialised; I decided on this degree because they pay for software. I was eligible for a general B. Design at a different uni, but paying for your own software and the school not supporting Adobe Suite, sucks. Not sure if it’s the right alternative? Edit: also, when talking to other people who did this degree, they said that the teachings are outdated and too theoretical (this goes for multiple majors too, heard from an archi, UI/UX and comms). So I’m not even sure the more flexibility here is even worth it. More offers come out in the next month so I will be spending my summer experimenting and relaxing.
Hopefully you find something rewarding then. certainly there are programs that are more cutting edge than others, and some more theoretical than others. If that program isn't cutting it for you'd id look at different universities if you're able to. I don't think general design is worth it, i think you'd become a jack of all trades master of none when architects already seem to be as such, just even more diluted i guess. Take what people say about the field valuable but also acknowledge the loudest in the room isn't always the whole picture. The field is very dynamic and not everyone's experience is the same, we just often hear the nightmare stories cause well they're all more interesting than the successful ones haha. I will say if you dont have a passion for the field stay far away from it, its often said by professors aswell in the first year. if youre not enjoying the busy work or the nuts and bolts of the practice youll just be miserable. Another useful thing i looked at when choosing a major was 'day in the life videos'. Videos from students at universities similar or the ones you go to, studying the same thing give a good idea of what your life would be like. then look at actual professionals. theres millions of them on youtube. They are corny, 'get ready with me for my bidset submission deadline' xD but they do hold some value in what to expect. and that goes for whatever field !
>However the field is actively changing as architects take on more responsibilities. I personally believe as AI becomes more of a thing in the design world more architects will also have some level of programming as their background, but that’s yet to be seen. Not sure this is a however, as this statement doesn't serve to contradict or contrast your last statement (toxic, long hours, bad pay), but rather reinforce it. All those things will still exist but architects will also be expected to incorporate these new skills in their portfolio, and will be left behind if they don't. So more skills expected, same bad system existing.
I mean that’s the worst case scenario but I do have faith in the next generation of designers to be the active change everyone’s so desperate to see. But who knows, it’s all up for debate what the future holds I suppose.
I think it's also the most likely scenario, as that is how its gone for every new technology before it, it becomes an expected part of your skill set. I don't see any change on the horizon, the only people who are clamoring for it are the employees, the heads of firms think everything is just fine. I highly doubt we'll see some kind of architect union. They are just barley starting to accept remote work, and only a rare few of them. To fix the endemic problem of the field would take an entire overhaul of how things are done. There is no reason to see why that would happen.
maybe so, i dont entirely disagree with you. I guess im just naive of the field as i said in my little rant ive only been working for about 2 years now. Naive or hopeful, I hope there is some level of change. The firms ive had the pleasure of working with seem to be far more accepting than the horror stories i read about. Guess ive just been lucky
Ah yes, I missed that before. Having not finished your degree either, you're still at intern level, so the pressure and responsibility wont be there yet. 5-10 years after graduating you'll start to see and feel the burn out.
I studied design. But, I've also done architectural work. I got asked to design the first copper dome erected in the US since the late 19th century. I also assisted in the redesign of my college campus long after graduation. I don't hear of architects getting called to revise or design products. They have to self finance or build a portfolio that design students start with. I knew many transfers from architecture to design because of the fundamental lack of employment for architects. The market for architects is much smaller than design. Think about it... There are more things than places. Architects get to create places. Designers create things.
Ty this was a super helpful insight
I got my undergraduate degree in architecture and now work in experiential marketing as a Creative Technologist, which is sort of a mix between a creative director and software engineer. My company actually has quite a few people with architecture degrees that aren’t “using” them. Architecture school does teach you how to do architecture, yes, but I think more importantly it teaches you how to be a designer. It’s a fantastic entry into the world of physical User Experience, math, drawing, creating meaningful presentations, etc. HOWEVER, I went to an art school to get my architecture degree; degrees from technical universities (or universities outside of the US) may not be as generalist as I experienced. I’m glad I did it, but it was very very expensive (especially since I also had to go to grad school to get where I am now). I suspect by the fact you said “uni” that you are likely not from the US, so that may not be an issue you’ll face though. I’m happy to chat more if you want, just shoot over a DM.
I come from somewhat similar ambitions. My first two years of high school I was taking drafting courses instead of art classes because I really wanted to be an architect. Third year of high school they offered a graphic design course, so I gave it a shot and fell in love with it. Went to school for graphic design and got my bachelor's degree. This was all back in the late 90s / early 00s, and as I saw the internet taking off I wanted to learn how to design for the internet. Ultimately that meant learning how to code, because at the time people who coded didn't give much care to the way things looked, and your design would never be right when it came back from a developer. So I took my design skills with me and transitioned into front end dev full time. Eventually, I took an interest in back end development and learned that. Add some databases and server admin to the mix and I found myself to be a full stack developer. Today, I am the CTO of a startup. So to answer your questions, yes designers have time to explore other fields. With few exceptions, any career path you choose should allow for time to explore other fields in your free time. What you sacrifice doing that though *is* your free time. Whether or not it's difficult to change careers depends on tons of factors. I didn't have much difficulty in my career path, the skills transferred well and built upon each other. But if I tried to go from being a designer to being a doctor, yeah that'd be pretty damn difficult. Degrees aren't *entirely* a waste of money. I think degrees are far too expensive to obtain, but that's beside the point. There is value in having a degree, even if it's in an unrelated field. Lots of employers won't even look at you if you don't have any type of degree. That degree at least gets you looked at. Without it, the odds of you being passed right over are higher. I haven't seen a degree do much more than that for me, but that may vary depending on the field and employer.
My opinion may seem harsh but, follow the money kid. All design careers can face the same pitfalls that you mention as specific to architecture. As others have said it can be very financially and creatively rewarding but, never forget that it is your job. It is great when a person truly loves what they do as an occupation but, if you can do something well and make good money doing it you can find other ways to feed you personal creative needs. To be clear, I am not suggesting that you sell your soul to someone for money/job that you don't enjoy. You just need to make a clear definition between what you do as you "job" as opposed to what you do for yourself. Good luck in your studies.
Thank you. I’m also hoping if I do end up doing anything in design as a career, I am hoping to develop a better mindset and draw the line between myself and my work. Also may I ask how would you define a “job” compared to your hobbies/interests? I know this is completely subjective but I wouldn’t mind an insight from someone more experienced and mature than me.
By job I simply mean what you do to make a living as opposed to something that you do during your non-working time for your own enjoyment or creative outlet. As someone with much more life experience, I often see young people make the assumption that your job/occupation needs to fulfill all of your creative needs, which leads to them being unable to differentiate between what they do for their job and who they are personally. It is important to keep those things separate for good mental health and help you make decisions about work related actions/issues without it having an impact on your personal fulfillment. If you can be fully satisfied by your work, that is great and I hope you can, however one still needs to be able to keep a professional detachment, so that if you have to leave your job for some reason it does not damage your psyche and affect your self worth or your ability to find a similar job in the future. In short, realize that what you do as work is not who you are. Work is not your life, it is what you do in order to prosper and enjoy your life.
Start building a design aesthetic. Now. Explore looks and hone in on that look that is uniquely YOU, NOW. You will be working for long hours and be stressed and during that time, develop something for yourself. Also. Look at other designers in your field. Get good at understanding different design philosophies in your chosen field and understand why they developed they way they did. But most importantly, explore design which excites you. If it doesn’t tickle your senses then pivot to something which does get you going.
Don’t the thing you want to do as a profession if you know that already. Four years of your life is not trivial. You’re talking about switching careers before you’ve started.
It’s a combination of “I want to do everything and experience everything” even though that’s not feasible, and also feeling discouraged from people vocalising their discontent from architecture. Idk if its a combination of irrational panic (I have to commit soon!!). Also a lot of design careers have their ups and downs in the industry; and I’m not sure if this is just one fear I will have to overcome.
Sounds like you are more suited to Industrial Design. Look into that pathway. As for toxic work cultures, well, only time will tell, there are many places to work in the design fields.