A Survey of Industrial Design Graduates’ Employment

By Ming-Ying Yang, Manlai You, Chun-Yu Guo and Yung-Ping Chou.

Published by Design Principles and Practices: An International Journal

Format	Price
Article: Print	$US10.00
Article: Electronic	$US5.00

Even though Industrial Designer have become a popular job title in the manpower market, Industrial Design (ID) education institutions need to review how well their graduates have adapted and developed in the workplace. The purpose of this study is to investigate ID graduates’ employment in Taiwan, including their job findings, job situation and satisfaction. This study was conducted in three stages: literature review, in-depth interview, and questionnaire survey. In total, 328 graduates responded to the questionnaire. The findings are: 1) Over 80% ID graduates find their first jobs within three months after graduation, mostly through a renowned job-hunting web service in Taiwan. 82.2% of the jobs are strongly related to ID, and the graduates usually can get familiar with the design practice within six months. 2) The ID graduates select their jobs mainly based on their interests, and they are inclined to change jobs if prospect of promotion and development is not shown in a short period of time. Most of the ID graduates are working in corporate in-house design departments, and their biggest predicament in current job handling relates to a lack of sufficient training in technology and manufacturing know-how. 3) In general, the ID graduates are satisfied with their current jobs. The satisfaction ratings are ranked as, from highest to the lowest, relations with the colleagues, the work itself, direct superior, salary, and promotion. This study provides links between student academics and employment; therefore, the outcome is significant to both design education and profession.

Keywords:	Design Education, Industrial Design, Job Situation, College Graduate Employment

Design Principles and Practices: An International Journal, Volume 3, Issue 4, pp.1-14. Article: Print (Spiral Bound). Article: Electronic (PDF File; 1.563MB).

Dr. Ming-Ying Yang

Assistant Professor, Department of Industrial Design, The National United University, Miaoli, Taiwan

Dr. Yang is an assistant professor of Industrial Design at the National United University in Taiwan. She holds a doctoral degree of Design Studies from the National Yunlin University of Science and Technology in Taiwan. Her research interests include gender and design, design education, e-portfolio.

Prof. Manlai You

Professor, Department of Industrial Design, The National Yunlin University of Science and Technology, Taiwan

Dr. You is a professor of Industrial Design at the National Yunlin University of Science and Technology in Taiwan. He holds a doctoral degree of System Design from the University Of Waterloo, Canada. He has published over forty journal papers in national and international journals such as Design Studies, Applied Ergonomics and International Journal of Design. His research interests include ergonomics, e-learning and design education.

Chun-Yu Guo

Graduate Student, Department of Industrial Design, National Yunlin University of Science and Technology, Taiwan

Ms. Guo is a freelace designer now. She holds a master degree of Industrial Design from the National Yunlin University of Science and Technology in Taiwan.

Yung-Ping Chou

associate professor, Department of Industrial Design, National United University, Miaoli, Taiwan

Dr. Chou with a doctoral degree of Applied Physics, Columbia University, New York, USA. His research area includes design education, intellectual property rights, innovative product design.

Reviews:

There are currently no reviews of this product.

Write a Review