(Part 2) Best products from r/IndustrialDesign

Why on earth are you learning Rhino? You'll get a lot farther in the industry learning pro-E or Solidworks. I don't know anyone who still uses that program, and your professor is very behind in the times if he's telling you to learn it, especially at junior level.

We had to "become familiar" with Rhino our first year of ID undergrad, and it was a nightmare. It does not function with dimensions, and you'll end up making something that is "three inches-ish." If you'll be using 3D prints with it, joining pieces will never align properly. It loves exploding, especially when trying to apply a radius or round on anything. Our class ended up creating a folder on our shared drive of screen captures of the crazy things rhino would do when it blew up. And be prepared for crashing.. lots of crashing.. Our university has since dropped it.

If you are hellbent on learning it though, try looking for downloadable ebooks/text books like Rhino for Jewelry by Dana Buscaglia or Inside Rhinoceros 4 (try to find them for free; not worth buying ..) Even though the first one is jewelry, it's for beginners of the program, so it'll help you get used to the commands, etc.

I sincerely wish you the best of luck..

I was in the same boat as you, I got my degree in Mechanical Engineering and now that I've been working in industry for a few years now I've found that my passions have led me to the Industrial Design side of the business and has caused me to reconsider my career path. Since I don't have the money to go back to school I've decided to educate myself, I do a lot of reading and just exploring design related topics that interest me.
Like Direlion said, learn to draw and do it every day, this has been one of my biggest hurdles, while I'm very good with CAD and 3D systems, they are frustratingly slow ways to explore an idea.
I think that any good Industrial Designer has an Mechancial Engineer hiding inside them and vice versa.
Your idea to take a semester or a year of ID classes is a good one, i would explore different ideas and topics that interest you and than go from there.

Some movies that helped me realize I wanted to become and Industrial Designer:

Objectified

Eames: The Architect and the Painter
Both are on Netflix

And read this:
The Design of Everyday Things

Mostly just surround yourself with designers whether it's ID's or graphic designers or interactive designers, for me design seems to be more of a way to look at a world than a specific job.

Good luck

Personally I would stick with either the warm or cool grey and not mix them, however that's just personal preference since my college required cool greys. Definitely pick up an accent color or two, with at least two or three shades in each accent so you can give your colored features some depth as well. It tends to look muddy if you do color and then try to shade with grey on top of the color.

Also. Get the bigger square ones rather than the little ovals. They last longer and have two ends (chisel and fine brush) and are really useful.

This is the set I got when I started out:
http://www.amazon.com/Copic-Markers-12-Piece-Cool-Gray/dp/B000MRR3RE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1456974194&sr=8-1&keywords=copic+cool+grey

and have gradually been adding accent colors to my collection. Verithin pencils are really nice for working with copics because they don't smudge (as easily) so that might be something you want to look into as well.

• Design Of Everyday Things - Donald Norman
  
• Emotional Design - Donald Norman
  
• Cradle to Cradle - McDonough & Braungart
  
  I also personally recommend The Industrial Design Reference & Specification Book which summarizes everything an aspiring/new designer should know. Great for reference, especially its anthropometrics section.
  
  If you have access to Rhino, I think its a good place to start. If you do a few searches on this sub, it's really split 50/50 on Rhino vs. SW. I think it depends mostly on where you want to end up. Either way, pick one or the other and you're good. You're already good since you're starting out early. I think generally though, most find it easier to learn SW after Rhino rather than the other way around.

A few things off the top of my head:

Creative Confidence By Tom and David Kelly (IDEO) - In fact, anything by these guys as IDEO are a great resource for design thinking.

Wacom Pen and Touch S Perfectly adequate starter tablet for sketching on a laptop.

Sketchbook Pro to go with it

Product Sketches - Great book with sketches of everyday things from Ideation to presentation quality.

Making It: Manufacturing Techniques for Product Design - Really good book covering the basics of industrial processes to manufacture objects.

Copic Multiliner set - maybe with some stationary. I fucking love stationary. Could combine this with a Moleskin or Field Notes notebook

Steal Like an Artist - cute, short book with a great message about how its not what you steal but how you steal it.

Kor 'Hydration Vessel' - I've had one for like 3 years.

How to design cars like a pro:

https://www.amazon.com/How-Design-Cars-Like-Pro/dp/0760336954

Is essentially the bible for car design students, it has lots of info about design, famous/ important designers and cars and a good section on the day in the life of a designer. Highly recommended.

How to draw cars the hot wheels way


https://www.amazon.com/How-Draw-Cars-Hot-Wheels/dp/0760314802/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1542868955&sr=1-1&keywords=How+to+draw+cars+the+hot+wheels+way

Zounds a bit weird but hear me out, this is by Scott Robertson, one of the gurus of car sketching and contains great tips on aesthetics and techniques for car design, plus there is an absolute ton of awesome renders from the Hotwheels design team.

the ones you sent the video for were what I was imagining.

bent nose pliers work in a pinch. Those round nose pliers are good for shaping wire, but probably not for twisting like we're discussing.

Wire twisting pliers, bent nose pliers, and linemans pliers all work because they have a broad clamping surface, letting you keep the two wire ends separate while you twist them.

These pliers are often used for "safety wire" in industry, for holding bolts on and stuff. I used my lineman's pliers in agriculture for securing things with twisted wire like irrigation pipe, staked plants/trees, repairs in the greenhouse, and for securing crates of produce.

In the greenhouse I often used paper type wire ties, i had a long reel of it and I would cut to length, but for larger plants or trees I used more substantial wire which was not paper coated and required pliers.

a product like this

Your sketches are on the right track. Here are some templates I like to use when practicing ellipses and straight lines. Also I would get a design sketching book either one on this site are good, but you have to order them from Sweden, the books are in english though. Also this book is great.

If you haven't watched Objectified yet, I highly recommend it, its available on Netflix.

Assuming you don't have access to a milling machine, which is truly the right tool for this job, I would think a router table with a long enough straight edging bit is the ticket. Something like this.

I would recommend making a jig to allow you to control the workpiece while you move it along the router bit.

Yep, the Henry Dreyfuss one is excellent.

Body Space is good as well.

I recommend Objects of Desire. It talks about the development of Design over time, and doesn't just focus on pure aesthetics but also the manufacturing / marketing process behind it as well. It's a really good read.

I like Chris Lefteri's books when it comes to manufacturing materials & processes.

I'm also reading The Evolution of Useful Things which is an interesting read about how common products have evolved very organically.

Check out the portfolio section of www.cardesignnews.com for some pretty ok sketching and rendering of vehicles.

Books I found helpful for product sketching were Design Sketching and Learning Curves

If you like the course, maybe the Delft design guide is for you! Definitely recommend it myself.

please read this book, it would be a bible for your path, I'm literally in the same situation as you, same job but 3 years younger and have degree in business management.

I started looking at ID as an option 6 months before I graduated and to be obsessed with it since the last 8 months, I'm still convinced this is my path to follow, I just keep working on improving my skills every single day.