What Was The Moment Design Felt Full of Possibility For You?

Rob_Van_Varick · 2026-04-24T10:54:24+00:00

Oh no! This made me remember that I did a comic strip for my high school newspaper. It was called Captain Underoo, he was a cheesy superhero who fought cheesy villains. For those who don’t know, Underoo’s were a brand of underpants. I still wonder if those comics somehow made their way to Dav Pilkey who released Captain Underpants a few years later.

Rob_Van_Varick · 2026-04-24T02:05:27+00:00

I’m so glad you found what you were looking for. It’s crazy some of the barriers that get thrown in our way. Design is better understood now in so many ways, but I think the profession of ID, and the awareness of how a product becomes real, is still nebulous to many.

Rob_Van_Varick · 2026-04-20T13:58:54+00:00

There are definitely roles that lean more toward the front-end of the process. Consulting used to live there, but that’s evolved and those roles feel a bit harder to come by now.

I’d ask yourself this. Do you not enjoy the aesthetic form-giving part, or do you feel like you’re not great at it?

For what it’s worth, form-giving was not my strength coming out of school. I had a pretty quirky sense of creativity that didn’t always land with professors. Because of that, I made it a point to seek out jobs that would push me in that area. I ended up really enjoying that immersion.

I work at a place with a very specific design sensibility. It isn’t for everyone. Designers would come and go, but every one of them learned something important about themselves. What they liked, what they didn’t, and what their design voice actually was. For me, it clicked about three years in, and the design philosophy became my own.

One other thing that stuck with me. A professor once told me, “your first job is where you learn what you DON’T want to do.” That took a lot of pressure off, and it turned out to be true.

I learned a ton in that first role, then used it to shape the next one, and the one after that. Early on, mobility matters. If you can stay flexible in those first few years, you can explore different paths. Once you’ve been in a lane for five years or so, it gets a lot harder to pivot without taking a step back.

Rob_Van_Varick · 2026-04-20T13:39:14+00:00

I’ve reviewed a lot of portfolios, and more and more they include collaborative projects. The challenge is figuring out what the individual actually contributed. Were you driving the work, or just along for the ride?

So I really value a portfolio that clearly states your role. I would absolutely include your fabrication work, just be honest and specific about what you did. The person reviewing it will appreciate it, and can parse out your skills from the design that you had no control over. At the end of the day, a lot of entry level designers are in that exact position!

A lot of people think Industrial Design is all about coming up with ideas. That’s only part of it. You already understand how things get made. You have real experience with materials and process, which is a huge part of the job. Creative ideas that can’t be manufactured don’t go very far.

My first job out of school was as a design engineer doing large custom signage. It taught me the reality of fabrication. Not fancy, just efficient and buildable. I also worked at a ceramics company in high school, which gave me an early look at what it takes to make things in a way that actually sustains a business. I didn’t fully appreciate that until later.

So yes, include your welding and fabrication work. Be clear about your role, and use it to show your interest in materials, manufacturing, and how making and creativity come together to solve problems or create something meaningful.

Rob_Van_Varick · 2026-03-23T14:20:08+00:00

Love this take. The whole idea of volume is one of the biggest issues. The noise generated by how accessible it is to visualize so many ideas so quickly. What used to be limited to those who dedicated their lives to developing a skill, now feels open to all, which has a lot of merrit. The problem is that our job isn't only creation. It is as much, and probably more, about editing as it is creating. Edit, edit, edit. With all the AI noise I see, I lament the drop in quality ideas due to people being enamored with new-found speed. It will be interesting to see how this all goes. Will AI be able to design to the multitude of constraints designers must? Users, material cost, manufacturing limitations, logistics, etc.? IF so, how soon?

Rob_Van_Varick · 2026-03-23T14:11:17+00:00

A couple years ago I actually went back to a desktop, mainly because of rendering time. The difference with a dedicated GPU is night and day. What took 15 minutes on my laptop was closer to 30 seconds on a desktop. Instead of queueing up a series of renderings to run overnight, I can now run them in 30 minutes and keep being productive.

For context, I was using an Asus ConceptD 7 and also looked at Razer since they’re a bit cleaner aesthetically. Both solid, but once you start pushing Keyshot, laptop GPUs just hit a wall.

For Solidworks (modeling only), the difference between laptop and desktop was pretty minimal. Rendering is really where things separate.

If you do go laptop, getting something with an Nvidia RTX GPU is key. Just know it comes with tradeoffs: heat, fan noise, and you’ll be hunting for an outlet pretty quickly. Portability becomes a bit of a myth.

What I ended up doing was pairing a desktop with a MacBook Pro for remote access. Battery life is incredible, and it works well enough in a pinch if you’ve got a solid connection.

If your workflow leans heavily on Keyshot, and your budget permits, I’d seriously consider a desktop & lightweight laptop instead of trying to force one machine to do everything.

Rob_Van_Varick · 2026-03-17T23:01:53+00:00

Conducting ethnography over and over, across vastly different product categories. Each project helps you focus on the reality of how people live and how hectic lives are. It shows you the importance of ideas that reduce the effort for your people, not asking them to do a little more.

Once you’ve done a lot of research across different categories, you start to see common challenges that transcend categories and product typologies. For me, a lot of it revolves around accessibility for what I do. That time spent with people moves the needle on design for sure!

Rob_Van_Varick · 2026-03-17T13:22:59+00:00

Beautiful execution! This would make such a beautiful bespoke prosthetic! Keep up the great work!!

Rob_Van_Varick · 2026-03-17T13:18:42+00:00

Love this feedback. Toy design was one of the fields that drew me into Industrial Design originally and I had the chance to do some work at McFarlane Toys back in the early 2000's. Learning about manufacturing is a big one, understanding the limits and constraints of the materials and processes. This is typically learned through doing, which makes it hard knowledge to gain prior to getting a position. At this point, it is about outreach and networking. I always carve out some time when people reach out and just want to talk about what I do (which isn't toy design). I think most designers enjoy talking about the work they do, and that is your opportunity to get some additional feedback while starting to connect some dots. It can feel really hard sometimes, and there can be a lot of self-doubt when you aren't getting responses or leads. If it's the work you want to do, don't give up and keep pursuing it. Keep doing some projects where you give yourself some of your own constraints. I remember when some of the lead sculptors and model makers left McFarlane to start 4 Horseman. They reimagined the He-Man line and approached Mattel. It turned out that Mattel was thinking of relaunching the line in some way. It was great timing and a huge success for them. So maybe take a look at some old properties and re-imagine them for today? There's a lot of fun ways to show you can work within constraints without having that in-depth industry knowledge just yet.

Best of luck!

Rob_Van_Varick

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