Product Design
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Background –
The goal of product design is to define, design and create new features and improve the functionality of products. With psychological background, psychology majors will be able to use their understanding and experience of the scientific method and data analysis to create better functioning and serving products for human use.
What is the average salary in this field? Industrial Designer - $69,280 (specialized design services) or $79,030 (architectural, engineering and related services)*
What classes at GVSU may help me in this field? Discuss with your advisor which courses among those on this list, along with other courses not listed here, would best serve your career goals.
- PSY 361 – Perception
- PSY 360 – Social Psychology
- PSY 349 – Psychology applied to Media
- PSY 355 – Ecological & Cultural Variables
- PSY 301 – Child Development
- CIS 150 – Introduction to Computing
- Minor in Digital Studies- focuses on the influence of digital media in society today. The ability to rely on digital tools to create platforms to create and share information and how that impacts people’s abilities to become productive humans within their society. ** Internships are available through this minor and may be helpful for experience prior to working in the field.
- Significant background knowledge in business (i.e. minor, major) may be necessary to be successful in this career.
What experiences outside of my classes could I explore?
- Explore career fairs hosted by GVSU: expand your network of potential employers.
- Tip – search on Handshake for more than “psychology major”
What are applicable skills to this career field? Having the ability to work effectively as a team member is extremely important in this field. In addition, creativity, problem solving, statistical and strong mathematical foundational skills are preferred, as well as the ability to use psychological research methods and apply them to the industry of interest.
Employer Possibilities –
- Example – Learning Design Specialist: oversees work and collaborates with cross-functional teams. These teams work on the content and function of learning technology. The goal is to use strategy to optimize content, features and functionality for the delivery of technological learning
- Example – Microsoft as Design Researcher: specifically looking for someone with a developmental psychology background. Goal is to generate consumer products for Microsoft entertainment platforms. Primary duties would be to complete research studies through both quantitative and qualitative methods.
*Salary - Bls.gov (2016)
** Information from gvsu.edu website - https://www.gvsu.edu/ds/