Being a great industrial designer requires a nuanced balance of many important skills and personality traits, but which matter the most? Join the discussion here: http://www.michaelroller.com/?p=1068

1. The Ideal (Junior) Industrial Designer
A study of skills and traits for new industrial designers
Michael Roller
http://michaelroller.com/

2. Background
Over the past few years, I’ve written about the integration of skills and traits
essential to being a great industrial designer. In that same period of time, I’ve
taught Design Communication to students at the University of Cincinnati and
hired many co-ops and interns at Kaleidoscope. Over time, I’ve developed a
passion for helping students understand, navigate, and cope with the diverse
range of qualities needed to achieve success.
This study aims to clarify the balance needed by young industrial designers
with two years of experience or less. It does not aspire to lofty definitions of
contemporary industrial design, nor will it provide specific approaches for how
to improve certain skills. The survey focuses on understanding and organizing
what is most important to the senior designers and hiring managers who hire
young talent.
Finally, it is important to remember that this study is largely qualitative and open
to interpretation. I welcome a rich discussion of this document on my blog.
The Ideal (Junior) Industrial Designer http://michaelroller.com/ 2
Michael Roller

3. 100 Respondents
79% 54%
North America Consultant
24%
Corporate
10% 6%
Europe Asia 22%
Other
4% 1% Academia, Anonymous, Unknown
No Response South America
Based on the backgrounds of the study’s participants, the perspectives in
this survey are widely informed and best applied to junior industrial design
opportunities with consultancies in North America.
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Michael Roller

4. Please rank the importance of the following skills and traits when
considering a junior industrial designer for your team.
Low Importance Medium Importance High Importance Very High Importance
1 Design Solutions (3.20)
2 Personality (3.11)
3
Problem Identification &
Framing (3.06)
4 Presentation & Execution (2.98)
Designers Weigh In
The survey began by asking respondents to rank four aspects of the designer
using a likert scale. Design Solutions, Personality, and Problem Identification
all scored as having high importance, while Presentation & Execution barely
missed the cut. All skills and traits were relatively important to respondents, but
Design Solutions had the highest score, at least in part because it received the
most scores in the “very high” category.
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Michael Roller

5. Which presentation and execution skills are most important when
considering a junior industrial designer for your team?
Ideation Sketching
89%
CAD Modeling
38%
Verbal Presentation Skills
30%
Graphic Design/Visual
Communication 26%
Sketch Rendering
23%
Other
21%
CAD
Rendering 15%
Presentation
Other names for presentation skills, in this situation, could be process skills, or
even communication skills. These are the hard skills that industrial designers use
to communicate to peers, managers, and clients. Overwhelmingly, the survey
confirms that ideation sketching is the most important of these skills at which a
junior industrial design should excel.
Responses from “Other” include: insightfulness, illustrating design strategy, physical modeling,
following directions, teamwork, Illustrator/Photoshop, positive attitude, and fast acquisition of beer.
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Michael Roller

6. Which aspects of the a design solution are most important when
considering a junior industrial designer for your team?
Quality of Ideas
69%
Aesthetic Sensitivity
52%
Attention to Detail
38%
Quantity of Ideas
28%
Blue Sky
Thinking 24%
Materials
& Processes 14%
Other 6%
Design Solutions
This question aims to remove all presentation aspects of the solution out of
the equation and focus on the concepts and ideas at the core of a solution.
While not as definitively important as ideation sketching, more than half of the
respondents reported that both the quality of the idea and the idea’s aesthetic
were the most important.
Responses from “Other” include: systems thinking, variety of product/industry sensitivities, global
design awareness, and offering a fresh perspective.
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Michael Roller

7. Which problem identification or project framing skills are most
important when considering a junior industrial designer for your team?
Ergonomics & Human
Factors 55%
Ethnographic Research
32%
Opportunity Mapping
32%
Marketing Knowledge
28%
Other Business
Knowledge 24%
Other
15%
Problem Identification
Not only does an industrial designer need to know how to solve problems,
she also needs to know how to identify the right problems to solve. This can
be done in a variety of ways, depending on the project. Compared to the
other sections, this question proved to have the least obvious answer, with
Ergonomics and Human Factors scoring the highest. Four other choices varied
by only 8%.
Responses from “Other” include: consideration of interaction design, idea generation and
brainstorming, observation & analysis, work ethic, and exposure to other methodologies.
The Ideal (Junior) Industrial Designer http://michaelroller.com/ 7
Michael Roller

8. Which personality traits are most important when considering a
junior industrial designer for your team?
Positive Attitude
61%
Passion for Career
52%
Cultural fit with brand/
company 51%
Professionalism
43%
Relevant interests
outside of work 9%
Other
8%
Dress/Personal
Style 3%
Personality
Hard skills matter, but personality traits are important too, since many industrial
designers work in teams where these traits can have an impact on it’s success.
Although respondents considered a positive attitude the most important, three
other traits (passion for career, cultural fit, and professionalism) also combine for
the ideal junior ID personality.
Responses from “Other” include: cross-functional team fit, pro-active attitude, independent, self-
motivated, good time management skills, and willingness to take direction from managers.
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Michael Roller

9. Of all traits covered in this survey, which are most important when
considering a junior industrial designer for your team?
Ideation Sketching
Quality of Ideas
Positive Attitude
Passion for Career
Aesthetic Sensitivity
Cultural fit with brand
Professionalism
Attention to Detail
CAD Modeling
Quantity of Ideas
Graphic Design
Other
Materials & Processes
Verbal Presentation
Ergonomics
Blue Sky Thinking
Marketing Knowledge
Business Knowledge
Sketch Rendering Presentation Skills
CAD Rendering Design Solution Skills
Opportunity Mapping Problem Framing Skills
Ethnographic Research Personality Traits
Personal Style
Interests outside of work
Putting it all together
It’s a relatively simple task ranking skills with a single category, but rarely do
designers compartmentalize these aspects in real time. To simulate a real
scenario like an interview or portfolio review, respondents were asked to select
their top choices when everything was on the table. With all skills and traits on
the table, ideation sketching remained the top scorer. Presentation skills and
Design Solution skills distributed fairly evenly across the entire range, while the
majority of Personality traits scored near the top. Problem framing skills scored
closer to the bottom.
The Ideal (Junior) Industrial Designer http://michaelroller.com/ 9
Michael Roller

10. Which skills or traits quickly disqualify a candidate for a junior
industrial design position with your team?
Negative Attitude
Low Quality of Ideas
Unprofessional
Poor Ideation Sketching
Low Passion for Career
Weak Aesthetic Sensitivity
Poor Attention to Detail
Weak Cultural Fit
Weak Verbal Presentation
Poor CAD Modeling
Low Quantity of Ideas
Poor Personal Style
Poor Mat’ls & Processes
Poor CAD Rendering
Poor Sketch Rendering
Weak Graphic Design
Weak Blue Sky Thinking
Low Biz. Knowledge Presentation Skills
Weak Ergonomics Design Solution Skills
Weak Ethnography Problem Framing Skills
Low Mktg. Knowledge Personality Traits
Weak Opp. Mapping
Interests outside of work
Dealbreakers
Often a skill or trait is more important when it is noticeably weak rather than
when it is strong. To gain insights around this framing, respondents were
asked which skills were the biggest turn-offs when evaluating a junior industrial
designer. Junior industrial designers who showed a negative attitude were
considered the worst. Personality traits in general jumped up the rankings
across the board.
The Ideal (Junior) Industrial Designer http://michaelroller.com/ 10
Michael Roller

11. Analysis and Recommendations
After studying and interpreting the feedback, five key recommendations can be
made to junior industrial designers to help them better understand what senior
designers and hiring managers are looking for in an ideal candidate.
_Sketching is (still) Tablestakes
_A Problem with Framing
_Attitude Adjustment
_Staying on Top
_One Final Look
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Michael Roller

12. Analysis
What’s the most important skill for a junior industrial designer?
89%
considered sketching the most
important executional skill
Ideation Sketching
CAD Modeling
Sketching is (still) Tablestakes
It’s not surprising that participants of the survey considered ideation sketching
to be very important. However, what was surprising was the extent to which
they found it important. Eighty-nine percent felt it was the most important of
all presentation and execution skills, the largest gap between any two skills
throughout the entire survey. Even though presentation skills overall were
considered the least important category (p.4), sketching scored at the top when
ranked among all options. Poor ideation sketching was the fourth most popular
reason that one may be disqualified from a potential job opportunity. Despite
all of the changes happening in the design world that may indicate otherwise,
ideation sketching remains an important gauge to which experienced designers
evaluate junior talent.
The Ideal (Junior) Industrial Designer http://michaelroller.com/ 12
Michael Roller

13. Analysis
Is problem identification the least important type of skill set?
Overall, problem identification &
framing scored in the middle, but when
specific skills within the category were
listed, participants struggled to find
their importance relative to other traits.
Design Solutions
3.20
Personality
3.11
Problem Identification &
Framing 3.06
Presentation & Execution
2.98
A Problem with Framing
Conceptually, problem identification and framing were considered to be of high
importance, but respondents found it difficult to identify the specific skills that
were key to it’s importance. It is possible that these traits are of low importance
because senior designers or managers in other functions usually set strategies
through the application of these skills. These results may also indicate industrial
design’s challenge of better defining the more strategic arm of its function. It
would seem risky for young designers to ignore the development of these skills
altogether, especially given the recent popularity of design thinking and design
research. The feedback on this category leaves the most questions unanswered,
suggesting that more research should be done to better understand it.
The Ideal (Junior) Industrial Designer http://michaelroller.com/ 13
Michael Roller

14. Analysis
How do preferences change when the framing of the question changes?
Positive Framing
Of all traits covered in this survey, which are most important when
considering a junior industrial designer for your team?
Negative Framing
Which skills or traits quickly disqualify a candidate for a junior
industrial design position with your team?
Attitude Adjustment
When observing the differences in results between the positvely- and
negatively-framed questions, a clear difference could be noted in personality
traits. While other categories remained relatively unchanged, every personality
trait scored higher when framed negatively. In short, designers may not win
a job solely based on their personality, but a negative attitude or signs of
unprofessionalism may do the most to hurt one’s chances.
The Ideal (Junior) Industrial Designer http://michaelroller.com/ 14
Michael Roller

15. Analysis High Overall Importance
What traits do ideal junior industrial designers share?
Ideation Sketching
Quality of Ideas
Positive Attitude
Passion for Career
Aesthetic Sensitivity
Cultural fit with brand
Attention to Detail Professionalism
CAD Modeling
Quantity of Ideas
Graphic Design
Materials & Processes
Verbal Presentation
Ergonomics
Blue Sky Thinking
Marketing Knowledge
Business Knowledge
Sketch Rendering
Scale =
CAD Rendering
Importance within
Opportunity Mapping individual categories
Ethnographic Research
Personal Style
Interests outside of work
Staying on Top
Low Overall Importance Based on the ranking of skill categories (p.4), the ideal junior industrial designer
is some balanced combination of good personality, talented problem solver,
and skilled technician. Mapping out all the skills and traits based both on
multiple performance metrics, one can see that the ideal junior industrial
designer sketches great but then quickly adds quality ideas, a positive and
passionate attitude, a keen aesthetic sense, and a good fit within the team. The
list continues, but this is a good starting point for any young designer looking to
capture the attention of their senior peers.
The Ideal (Junior) Industrial Designer http://michaelroller.com/ 15
Michael Roller

16. 4 2
Ergonomics & Human Factors 55% Positive Attitude 61%
Ethnography 32% Passion for Career 52%
Opportunity Mapping 32% Cultural Fit 51%
Problem Identification Personality
Conceptually, problem identification and framing were Having the right personality traits is even more important than
considered to be of high importance, but respondents found it having good technical skills. Hiring managers most often
difficult to identify the specific skills that were key to it’s disqualify junior ID candidates for having a negative attitude,
importance. It would seem risky for young designers to ignore followed shortly by being unprofessional, showing a lack
the development of these skills altogether, especially given the passion, or being a poor fit for the company culture.
recent popularity of design thinking and design research.
3 1
Ideation Sketching 89% Quality of Ideas 69%
CAD Modeling 38% Aesthetic Sensitivity 52%
Verbal Presentation 30% Attention to Detail 38%
Presentation & Execution Design Solutions
Overall, executional skills ranked as the least important of the Beautiful and intelligent design solutions ranked as the most
four categories but that ideation sketching was considered the important overall. More than half of respondents considered the
most important of any individual skill on the survey. 89% of quality of ideas and aesthetic sensitivity to be very important.
respondents felt sketching was very important, outscoring
everything else. The second most important executional skill
was CAD modeling (38%).
The Ideal (Junior) Industrial Designer
After surveying 100 designers from around the world, these are the most
important skills and traits considered by the senior designers when hiring young
industrial designers (0-2 years of experience).
The Ideal (Junior) Industrial Designer http://michaelroller.com/ 16
Michael Roller

17. What’s Next
After conducting this study, a number of opportunities have been uncovered
for further potential research to ensure the quality of this information and to
explore adjacent areas of interest. Although this survey used numbers and
figures to measure the responses, it’s still largely qualitative. Alternative research
methods as well as more rigorous screening would help ensure the validity of future
studies.
Further exploration into a number of areas could help to identify the differences
across region, business type, and experience level. Understanding preferences
globally could help a broader audience understand their region’s specific needs
or help North American students cater their portfolios to the global audience
of their choice. For similar reasons, it would also be useful to better understand
the differences between corporate and consultant businesses.
It’s likely that the skills of junior industrial designers are not the same for
designers of other experience levels. Additional studies across a variety of
experience levels would help identify which skills remain essential and which
shift over time to become more or less important, allowing designers to focus
their personal development to be the most effective.
Thank you to everyone who participated in the study! Your insights are truly
appreciated and this document could not have been created without your input.
The Ideal (Junior) Industrial Designer http://michaelroller.com/ 17
Michael Roller