Work experience for DS loves product design and solving

[Overseasmom100]

So DS is very out going enjoys proudct design D&T not a great drawer but enjoys computor work etc and problem solving has great ideas etc...

Work experience coming up and he just doesnt know what to do. He did mention architecture but I dont think he understands what that intales.

Almost he needs somewhere/company that ... gets given a brief to design or come up with a solution for 'a thing' that solves a problem for someone!!!

Anyone suggest what route this could be?

How old is he? Why not approach an architecture firm do he finds out what it entails?

To ge honest, it’s very hard to get work experience at companies you don’t have a personal (or school) link to. I’d ask around to get a list of the most suitable options and go from there.

Graphic design or UX design might be interesting for him.

Industrial design?

He's not a drawer or artist but good at imagining things snd coming up with creative solutions. When he was little he loved lego...sounds silly but once we went ice skating he came home and built a lego ice rink with ice hockey players!

Anyway will chat to him this weekend.

Industrial design sounds interesting but how or where do you do that

My son is similar. I googled 'engineering work experience [name of major town]' @and found a couple of firms that offered relevant work experience for his year. Some weren't offering it in the right weeks so we had to sift a bit. Then he had to apply, etc.

I don't have experience of looking for a work experience placement and don't work in the industry, but I imagine industrial design-related placements can be found in product design companies. Or if he wanted to do more conceptual work maybe a consultancy place that does "design thinking" , which is quite the thing at the moment. Maybe call a uni/college that has a industrial design course and ask them for ideas?

Maybe contact small local companies who print fliers, t-shirts etc. and see if they could accommodate him. It could show him the whole process from design through to finished product.

The engineering company I work for gives work experience kids a journey through all the different departments so they can see the range of jobs we do; bridges, highways, maritime, seismic design, ecologists, architects, safety, graphic design and in-house production of media, etc. If you find something like that I'd highly recommend it. It gives a really good range of experience.

@57SweetPetrichor that sounds perfect...we're in Nottingham so will start and get him to start researching in the area