Breaking In

Check out some great work from Mary Reid.

What kinds of portfolios get your attention these days? What brings in an in-dustrial designer for an interview?

Initially, we require a fairly comprehensive portfolio to be shared before we bring them in for an interview. We even do a phone interview prior and, if we get beyond that, we will bring them in. We maybe have a more in-depth process than others and we do a couple of rounds of tests. The first one is called “The Caliper” and it gives us insight into more of the natural tendencies of the individual, relative to how they work, interact with people, how they think and process. It’s just another data point we use to understand a little bit more about the potential and the personality of the person we’re talking to. We are a big company and we do a lot of work in teams and collaboration so getting people that will work well together is important.

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Kohler Fountainhead Collection

Mary Reid is the Vice President of Design at Kohler, where she’s been a design figurehead since graduating from College for Creative Studies in 1982. During that time she has helped grow the design team from two to forty, and repositioned design from engineering to management. Continue reading →

Check out some great work from Todd Ellis.

Interviewed while Mr. Ellis was the Head of Strategy & Operations: Innovation and Sustainability at Puma in Boston.

What kinds of portfolios get your attention these days? What brings in an industrial designer for an interview?

Regardless of experience, the first thing we look for is project diversity, meaning a range of different projects that highlight various design skills, design thinking, and the ability to visually tell those stories. Looking at a portfolio with limited subject matter, such as automotive design work only, it is difficult to gauge the individual’s ability to transfer those experiences into footwear design. But if the individual has a range of projects or product designs in varying physical scales while utilizing different materials, colors, and finish solutions, it allows us to better judge their initial design capabilities and interests.

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For more than 25 years, Todd Ellis has been involved in product creation. From early in his career as a designer, to today as a business leader, he has orchestrated various technical and business disciplines, in the execution and delivery of unique products and programs.

Graduating with a BSID from the University of Wisconsin Stout, in the 1980s, Todd began his career at Cannondale in Georgetown, Connecticut–the first high volume manufacturer of aluminum bicycle frames and cycling accessories. To build his experience, he later worked as an Industrial Designer/Product Development Contractor with various Connecticut design and engineering consultancies. Participating in avionics, healthcare, consumer electronics, housewares, toys, and packaging programs, Todd developed a broad understanding of design and product development. Working on projects for Converse, now a division of Nike, led to his first design experience in athletic footwear. Continue reading →

Check out some great work from Pip Tompkin Design.

What kinds of portfolios get your attention these days? What brings in an industrial designer for an interview?

I am looking for a portfolio that puts a smile on my face. This comes from originality, personality, and someone who goes above and beyond. Students need to be original and innovative to compete today. Their portfolio needs something that stands out to get to an interview. As a reflection of how competitive the design job market is, we are a small studio and, when we post a position, we receive in excess of a thousand portfolios from around the world. We ask for digital portfolios to be submitted through our website. Every portfolio is reviewed in its entirety by myself and the team, but over time we have come to recognize that a portfolio’s quality and originality can usually be accurately assessed simply from the first introduction page.

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Polycom SoundStation Connect: Responding to changes in modern business

Pip Tompkin was born in Nottingham, England. He graduated top of his year with 1st class honors majoring in Industrial Design from Northumbria University in Newcastle. He then attended the prestigious The Royal College of Art in London and gained a Masters of Industrial Design with a special examiners distinction. After graduating, he worked with both architecture and design companies in England, Norway, Sweden, Finland, China, Korea and The Netherlands, before moving to the United States in 2001. Continue reading →

Check out some great work from ECCO Design.

What kinds of portfolios get your attention these days? What brings in an industrial designer for an interview?

You need to have a good portfolio with skill and sensitivity about form, about design, and more importantly now, the humanity. Design is for human beings and we need to make sure that people can use the object we design. I think design used to be only about the aesthetics, but nowadays there are a lot of challenges in the world. There are all sorts of issues like the energy impact, ecology, material choice, recyclability. Everything needs to be beautiful, useful, affordable and needs to perform, but that alone is not good enough.

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Geiger Video from ECCO Design on Vimeo.

Eric Chan is the Founder and President of ECCO Design. With over 25 years of international experience in product innovation, design and consultancy, Eric has counseled clients in the sectors of office furniture, professional equipment and consumer products and electronics. His brand-name clients over the years include Herman Miller, Cuisinart, OXO, AT&T, Symbol, T-Mobile, LG Electronics, Corning and Colgate. A multiple-award-winning design and product innovation expert, Eric is one of the most influential contemporary designers in the world who has helped shape the industrial design industry in North America and global markets for over two decades. Continue reading →

Check out some great work from Roland Boal.

Interviewed while Mr. Boal was the Lead Designer & Studio Manager at Tangerine, London.

What kinds of portfolios get your attention these days, and what brings in an industrial designer for an interview?

The best things are, in a way, the most mundane. Those portfolios that are just nice and neatly laid out, in many respects, are the ones that leap out at us—where there’s not too much stuff on the page and there are not too many pages. Where there is just a sensitivity to how the folio is presented even before you look at the work. Beyond that, we look for people who sketch their designs sensitively. That’s really important. A lot of the portfolios we get sent seem to suffer from the owner’s belief that they have to—right from the start of their career—demonstrate that they are the greatest designer ever, and that gets in the way of demonstrating their core skills.

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Designer Roland Boal, studio director at Tangerine from Creative Community, KTN on Vimeo.

Roland Boal is a designer and creative leader with over eleven years experience in the consulting industry. He has a global perspective that allows him to run successful and innovative projects for clients all over the world. Working across many sectors of the design industry with service providers and manufactures, changing the futures of businesses, and creating rewarding experience for their customers. Roland is currently Lead Industrial Designer at Kohler in London. Continue reading →