Fashion design

Whether you dream of making haute couture pieces for a luxe fashion house or have a passion for sportswear, breaking into fashion design generally requires formal study before you land a job. There’s option to study on shorter, year-long courses, which teach key skills. Or, you can undertake a longer degree course with the aim of opening the door to employment.

While studying will give you a solid grounding, it’s how you project yourself and your work that will help land you a job. Internships are the most common route into full time work, even after you’ve done a degree, but to stand out make sure you supplement your course portfolio with designs and ideas relevant to the company you’re looking to work with. Major high street brands offer internships, but smaller companies also offer the chance to learn from the inside. LinkedIn lists dozens of entry-level roles.

Make sure you have a good knowledge of the market and where you see your designs being sold in the future – the business of fashion is just as important to designers as the outfits themselves. And if there’s a designer whose work you like, contact them and request a meeting. Face to face contact or even a phone call adds a personal touch that can lead to work that may not have been advertised.

Product design

Product design is as much about solving problems as it is about designing products themselves. And that means learning about materials and engineering as well as developing your creative practice. Handily, there are different routes into product design, depending on your personal preference, with apprenticeship schemes or degree courses available.

The latter can often be done in conjunction with a year in the workplace, meaning you get the chance to work with designers in close quarters, learning how they take concepts from the page and turn them into tangible products, as well as getting to grips with software and products that are used in the studio every day.

As in other parts of the creative industry, internships play a valuable part in helping to make the transition from keen student to employee. Agencies often encourage graduates to get in touch and explain why they should have a chance to intern or work with them.

To give yourself the best chance, create a simple portfolio website that shows off projects and how you’ve worked through them, from explaining the concept and early drawings to the finished article. This shows you understand the process behind product design, rather than simply showcasing a product or design once it’s done. Make sure any website has an ‘about me’ section, detailing the software and hardware you know how to use.