Job opening for an industrial product designer or industrial designer
Manual design is a profession in its own right. Will you become a creative expert?
Manualise is looking for industrial designers and industrial product designers. Why are we looking for you? Because with your background, you have a fantastic foundation to master the field of manual design.
In this article you will read what makes you, as an industrial (product) designer, such a suitable candidate for our vacancy. And what we as Manualise do to make you that creative expert, capable of designing clear, understandable and usable content – in whatever form – for a variety of target groups.
(In this article, industrial designer and industrial product designer are used interchangeably. Where industrial designer is mentioned, industrial product designer can also be read. And vice versa).
Designing manuals a profession
Manuals: no doubt you’ve dealt with them before. But did you know that designing manuals is a real specialty? And as an io-er or ipo-er, you in particular have a wonderful basis for becoming an expert in this field. Want to know how we view your qualities? Read on below. And then you will understand why we are looking for an industrial designer and industrial product designer for our vacancy.
Creative
Creativity is pre-eminently a core quality of an industrial product designer. Creative thinking is invaluable in turning complex procedures into understandable instructions. A creative approach ensures that information is presented in an engaging and memorable way, making it easier to keep the user engaged. And a captivated, engaged user leads to a better customer journey, higher customer satisfaction, and proper and safe use of products. Something that benefits our customers.
Analytical
An industrial designer’s analytical ability comes in handy when dissecting products and processes. In addition, this ability enables designers to identify crucial steps. To understand the essence of a task (take a logical approach) and translate this into clear, understandable instructions for the user. An indispensable ability, therefore, when developing manuals.
Structured
An industrial designer and industrial product designer’s structured approach to designing products is seamlessly transferable to preparing manuals. Taking clients step by step to the desired end result is – just like the structured approach to a design process – an interactive process. Being able to switch gears, working in a structured way and not losing sight of the end goal are important here. An industrial product designer is familiar with the required mindset and the experience already gained comes in handy when designing manuals.
Technically savvy
What you don’t understand yourself you can’t explain to another. Technical knowledge is an indispensable asset when preparing manuals. Industrial product designers, with their technical background, have the skill to translate complex technical information into accessible instructions. Allowing a user to use products properly, safely. Without having to know all the ins and outs of a product. And without being bothered with jargon or complicated language.
Practical skills
Experience working with various software packages is the reason the industrial product designer learns new software quickly. But make no mistake. You can immediately apply many of the tools an ipo-er already knows when designing manuals. As a result, an industrial product designer easily gets off to a flying start.
Understands what others are talking about
Industrial designers have already worked in multidisciplinary teams during their education. As a result, they understand what people from other fields are talking about. Our clients are experts in their own fields. They represent diverse fields, such as Research & Development, marketing, sales and QA/QC. Understanding what others are talking about makes communicating about very different things a lot easier and more effective. Which allows manuals to be designed more efficiently.
Translated with DeepL.com (free version)
Thinks from the user’s perspective
Designing for an end user is already central throughout the study. Who is the user and where do his or her needs lie? Thinking from the user’s perspective is exactly what writing manuals is all about. Understanding who you are designing for will ensure that the final product (the manual in this case) will be of high quality.
Eye for detail
Small mistakes can have big consequences. This is something that industrial product designers are confronted with early on during their training. This leads to a sense of urgency when it comes to accuracy, which is also crucial when designing a manual. In addition, industrial designers also develop another form of “eye for detail”: the sense of design. This comes in very handy when designing documentation, among other things: a part of properly conveying information to the user that should not be underestimated!
Communication skills
Good verbal communication and a clear writing style are essential ingredients when technical information needs to be made understandable to non-technical readers. Without these skills it is complicated to get to the point. Both when gathering required information from a customer and processing it into a manual. By writing reports and making/having presentations, you are familiar with these skills as an industrial designer or industrial product designer. Combined with the aforementioned analytical skills, you have nothing to worry about.
Project management skills
Projects with deadlines that need to be managed effectively: the training was full of them. As a creator of manuals, you need the same skills to do your job well. Especially if you have to manage multiple projects at once, your experience in this area comes in handy.
From beautiful base to expert
The above characteristics and competencies form a wonderful (solid) basis for the specialty of “Manual Design. They make you as an industrial designer or industrial product designer a very suitable candidate for this vacancy. And are you not yet a star in everything? No worries. We won’t throw you in at the deep end. We will train you intensively during the first weeks, so that you can quickly get to grips with various software packages. Think of packages like Solidworks Composer, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Indesign but also our in-house developed software. We will also teach you a lot about technical writing and technical illustration. A colleague will guide you intensively during the first weeks to get you started. But even after that, we will be there for you. Who are we? We are a young team of enthusiastic millennials. Many of these creatives are io-ers or ipo-ers just like you. With us there is plenty of room to develop yourself in specific areas: think of writing texts, making illustrations, creating manuals.
You have the solid foundation and together we will let you grow into a creative specialist capable of designing content for different audiences.
Got curious?
Did the above make you curious? Have you started to look at your own abilities with different eyes and do you feel that this vacancy could be something for you? Or would you like to know more about this vacancy or about our company? We would love to hear from you!