Nihal Islam.

NIHAL ISLAM

Industrial Designer / Campaign & Reward Development Manager at TCC Global

Since graduating from Middlesex University in 2016, I’ve had the pleasure of working with a few of London’s top Industrial design consultancies for a couple of years such as Curventa. I have worked with some of the world’s leading brands, helped build start-ups from small ideas into a reality and I then went in-house joining a massively funded start-up known as Zwift. In 2019 COVID hit us all and I made a big decision to go freelance and out of nowhere I became an Industrial Design Manager. Sounds a bit crazy right? Well, that’s all part of the journey.

I’m now working as an Industrial Designer and Campaign and Rewards Development Manager for a company called TCC Global where I get to lead product ranges (known as rewards) to be sold in a loyalty campaign, helping to bring back loyalty from customer to leading retailers across the world. I’m only 6 years (including placement year) into my career as an Industrial Designer and I’ve still got a long way to go! In order to get to where I am today, it took a lot of hard work, perseverance and grit – it wasn’t an easy journey at all. However, being at an early stage of my career I saw this as a chance to explore different paths; I have worked in-house, consultancy and freelance to really understand what I enjoy and don’t enjoy. I didn’t physically tell myself that I would now do this and that, they just came along at certain points of my career and at the time they may have not seemed ideal for me, but I took into account the wise words once given to me by Wyn (Griffiiths); to just take that chance and see what doors it opens.

Sometimes it’s all about taking that leap of faith, which my 21-year-old self didn’t really get at the time but now I do!

If I could summarise the BA/BSc Product Design course at MDX in one phrase it would be ‘imperfectly perfect’. Yes, the course had the standard deadlines, assignments, projects, grading system etc. like any other University, but never had I felt a sense of over controlling my career path. Everyone had their own style of working, not everyone wanted to become an Industrial Designer like I did and that’s what I loved about it. The course genuinely allows you to take full control and choose what you want to become. It’s full of so much culture, people from all around the world and always full of collaboration from staff and colleagues. For me it was a great course and I would never change it for any other. The staff were always open and honest, respected you, they treated you like designers (not students) and most importantly they cared and took interest in you and what you wanted to do. These values from the MDXPD community was something I aligned with and is an absolute requirement when it comes to any new role I take.

For students studying at the moment, whether you’re starting off your first year, in your final year or somewhere in the middle of it all is to work hard, focus and enjoy it all.

Make sure to have all your core skills up to scratch before graduating, whether that’s Keyshot, sketching, Arduino or whatever it is, just make sure it is at a good level because it will help you out at the start of your career, trust me. Yes, you’ll learn on the job but having that advantage in the beginning will help. Which leads me on to placements. Get experience in the real design world before graduating. Not only will it help you gain some experience but it will make you a lot more employable than others without experience.

And lastly, take any opportunity you get; you never know where it could lead, or what doors it could possibly open for you.

Follow Nihal Islam on Instagram @nihalislam_

Connect with Nihal on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/nihalislam/

Check-Out TCC Global: www.tccglobal.com

Article from #MDXPD: 5 Years On (Class of 2016), #MDXPD 2021 p.31-32