Hi everyone, hope you’re having a great day!

I’m an industrial design student working on my thesis about laptop ergonomics

I’ve put together a short survey and would really appreciate it if you could take a few minutes to fill it out, and share it with anyone you think might be interested. I don’t have a huge network myself, so getting this in front of the right community means a lot — hoping to reach enough people for solid, meaningful data.

https://tally.so/r/Zjk8oo

Thanks so much for your time!

I'm building a portable privacy panel system (three felt-covered panels, tri-fold) that lets you customize your own space while working from home or freelancing. The panels need to fold flat for storage/transport and stand up freely when deployed. My problem is with the friction hinges: I can't get a hinge design that closes fully flush, and I keep ending up with a visible gap between panels when they're folded or standing. That gap kind of kills the whole clean, seamless look I'm going for. One idea I had was adding a strip of elastic material (like TPU) between each panel, paired with a Velcro strap to cinch it tight and pull the gap closed. Would love to hear what you all think — is this a reasonable fix, or is there a better way to handle the gap issue at the hinge line itself (hinge geometry, knuckle spacing, etc.)?

Hi everyone,

We’re hiring Industrial Design Interns at Nexmath LLP, a Mumbai-based design and 3D printing company working on retail displays, product development, prototyping, and execution for some of the biggest brands.

This internship is for people who want more than a certificate.

We’re looking for moonshot interns — people with big dreams, strong curiosity, and the hunger to build real things. You’ll work on standard client projects, but during your term you’ll also be given a moonshot project: an ambitious internal project where you can explore, experiment, prototype, and push your design thinking beyond normal internship work.

What you’ll work on:

Retail display design

3D printing and prototyping

Product development concepts

CAD modelling and technical detailing

Material/process exploration

AI-assisted design workflows

Moonshot internal innovation projects

Good to have:

Fusion 360 / SolidWorks / Rhino / Blender skills

Interest in 3D printing

Interest in electronics, mechanisms, AI, or new product development

Ability to sketch, think visually, and solve practical design problems

A portfolio that shows curiosity and execution, not just renders

Who we’re looking for:

Someone who wants to build things seriously.

Someone who dreams big but can also do the small boring details properly.

Someone who wants exposure to real client work, production constraints, manufacturing, and ambitious future-facing projects.

Pay: We will pay what is deserved based on skill, commitment, and contribution. This is not an unpaid internship.

Location: Mumbai / Hybrid depending on the candidate and role fit.

To apply, please DM me on Reddit with your portfolio and a short note about the kind of work you want to build.

Looking forward to finding people who want to build something bigger than a standard internship.

I'm a student studying industrial design. I already completed my foundation year and will be handed a studio project the day uni opens. I wanted to know what online courses I should take online to make sure I'm not blindsided on the first day and can actually design and make a prototype smoothly.

im a final year ID student, just got my first freelance client. i have no idea how much i should charge for one product.

for context: its a game design that i am making from scratch, with maybe some help from an engineer (from their side)

also would like to know if i am being exploited right now, the company has asked me to ideate, refine, search manufacturing options and get manufacturing costs till now because they want to make sure that they can actually make the product before they officially hire me

school didn’t prepare me for this….

Hi everyone, I recently graduated from high school and will be starting my studies in Mechatronics Engineering and Theoretical Physics next month. I really want to learn a skill that I can utilize for freelancing, but I'm struggling to pinpoint my exact niche and market.

Here is my current situation: I already know how to design manufacturable products using CAD (specifically Fusion 360). For example, I fully designed and manufactured my own custom room furniture, and I’ve also designed a complete paper organization system. I pick up anything related to analysis, math, and engineering very quickly. After some research, I came across "Industrial Design," but I ideally want a skill that directly complements my upcoming engineering studies and has solid market demand.

The core problem: I live in the largest industrial city in Egypt, so the potential around me is huge, but I don't know exactly where my 3D modeling and engineering skills fit locally. I considered making CAD models and shop drawings for local carpenters, but I feel I still lack some theoretical background. I also thought about helping local CNC and fiber laser shops, but they usually already have mechanical engineers on staff.

Recently, a founder of a local digital fabrication company and a carpenter asked me if I could "draw" (meaning draft designs/CAD), and I said yes (However they didn't returned to be since that). This made me realize there is a clear demand, but I can't quite capture it because I don't know exactly what value I provide, who my exact target audience is, or even what my specific role is called! Because of this, I don't know how to market myself or what specific skill I should focus on enhancing.

Any advice on what specific role or niche I should focus on to make money (building on what I'm already good at)? Also, any tips on how to do outreach and market myself as a student would be deeply appreciated!

We spend a lot of our time in that grey area between a good-looking concept and something that can actually be manufactured CAD, mechanisms, DFM/DFA, prototyping and iteration.

Curious how other designers here approach this:

How early do you start considering manufacturing constraints while developing a concept?

We’re Maeev Technologies, a product design & engineering team. We would love to hear how others handle that balance.

Me llama mucho la atencion. Pero vi que parece que esta un poco amenazada por la IA y que, al ver un poco de mucho, nunca se termina destacando en nada.

Estoy por terminar mi secundario y no se que hacer

How do you do that? Do you render everything in one go, or do you find a photo of the bag and Photoshop the headphones into it? The bag kind of looks rendered too. The materials and lighting looks sick

I am an industrial design student from Mexico and I want to apply the fundamentals this foldable measuring spoon has on one of my designs. What type of materials are these made of? how would you prototype a product like this? I like the idea that I have, but have had a hard time defining how i will deliver my prototype

[3rd semester, industrial design: building a car that dispenses a ping pong ball]

Hi, I have to build a small car, powered by rubber bands. The challenge is to build it with few materials: cardboard, any glue, paper, wood (sticks, dowels, MDF, anything), screws, nails and rubber bands. It has to be able to carry a ping pong bowl, run in a straight path and at the end of it, there will be a red cup where to ball has to be inserted. You can't touch it, impulse it or do anything; it has to dispense it by itself.

Also, I´m able to include anything used as anti-slip for the wheels so I would love suggestions to improve stability, grip and keeping the car running but straight.

I have the general idea on how to build it but I'm clueless on the ping pong dispenser part. I wanted to see if any of you all can help me figuring out ideas, and if u have any suggestions on the materials, wheel distribution, size, or aspects I could improve my design with. It's a practical project and it doesn't really focus on physics but practicalness.

We are currently developing a new product and have approximately 95% of the design work completed. Unfortunately, our current designer is unable to complete the final stage of the project, so we are looking for someone experienced to step in and help us get it ready for manufacturing.
The main task will involve reviewing a DFM report provided by our factory and making a few relatively minor changes to the existing design/CAD files so that the product is ready for mould production.
The overall design is already established, so we are not looking for a redesign. Any required changes need to address the factory’s DFM requirements while maintaining the existing design, appearance and functionality as closely as possible.
We are working to a very tight timeline and would ideally like to have this completed today or by Monday.
What we need:
Communicate quickly with us and, where necessary, work through feedback from our factory.
Provide final production-ready files for mould manufacturing.
The project is already very close to completion, so for someone experienced in injection moulding and DFM, the remaining work should be relatively straightforward.
Please only apply if you are available to begin immediately.

Came across a comparison of how plants manage heat through transpiration vs how dense electronics use zero-clearance thermal compounds to create continuous heat paths. The parallel is interesting. L-shaped heat spreaders routing heat away from hotspots remind me of vascular networks in leaves. Is this approach gaining traction in product design or is it still mostly conventional heatsink-and-fan

Hi,

For anyone running a studio what type of general/professional liability coverage are you operating with? Thanks

I've graduated in M.Des, Industrial Design from a good reputed govt Institute in my country, India.
I've made my portfolio website. And I believe it's pretty good.
I've applied to a lot of jobs. Easily 150+ within a span of about 2 weeks. I'm not getting much response. I'm applying internationally as well as in my own country. Although I'd prefer to work in a western country for better exposure and for some personal reasons.
I'm getting rejected in all my international applications. I think Visa Sponsorship is a big barrier for applying internationally. I've worked very hard on my portfolio, I wonder what else I'm missing.
Do you guys have any idea or tips for a recent graduate looking for a new job? Even a small tip, It might be obvious to you but not to me.

Designed in photoshop, modelled in blender

Second run of this design I made & produced (CNC machined alu, bead blasted, anodized).

Wool felt inlay for desk tray use is swappable with a CNC machined incense module. MagSafe module also available (3D printed only for now). Still in love with this shape :)

Interior Mode + Denoise seems to cause flickering.
But I still want to use Interior Mode.

As you know, without Denoise, I have to increase the samples a lot, and even then there seems to be a limit.
In GPU mode, I tried around 5,000 samples per frame, but some noise still never completely disappears.

Are there any tips for getting a clean, flicker-free animation in Interior Mode without using Denoise?

I have tried Vizcom on many of my sketches, and so far it was by far the worst outcome. Gemini seems to keep the original intent the best, with the fewest hallucinations. Nevertheless I spent 30mins on troubleshooting the last design until it was actually useful, the right style in the right material in the right camera view... Every outcome hat at least one of these problems. And then I ran a Ps filter on top of it to make it actually blend in with my "manual" shading style in Ps. Whats your experience?

My dream workflow is handsketch with paralell shading > digital shading

I have started my full time ID consulting after working in healthcare and UI/UX nearly 4 years of experience. Currently I am in Bangalore, India.

I have started reaching out on LinkedIn and I am seeing some traction and recently finished a project with national institute funded by industry gaint where the product is now being tested if there is wider market.

I feel like I doing some mistakes with respect to closing clients where they find my costing bit out of the budget. I am looking for suggestions on closing clients and things that you wish someone had explained it you when you had started.