Product Design with Professional Experience BSc(Hons)

Course structure

Our course is structured around three main areas.

Design Studio: this is the heart of the course and where you specialise in your chosen area of interest.

Design Studies: this is the theory element in which you will explore the history, theory and culture of product design in relation to contemporary issues. You will develop skills in critical thinking and reflection that will feed into all your studies.

Product Design Technologies: this is where you’ll learn the underlying principles of design, engineering, and material systems, and apply these to your own projects.

Year 1

In your first year you take five core modules.

Modules

• Making, Materials and Processes

  This module introduces the workshop facilities our product design students use. You'll work through making-based exercises developing methods, approaches and knowledge that you'll draw from, and build on, in future projects. You'll gain an understanding of prototyping and design for manufacture, as well as exploring materials and processes. This module will also introduce some of the 2D, 3D and digital skills needed to develop and communicate ideas.

• Design Methods, Approaches and Skills

  This module introduces design methods, approaches and ways of thinking that will enable you to better understand how designers research, develop and communicate ideas. Project work will encourage you to use a range of methods and approaches to tackle design exercises and challenges. You'll gain an understanding of the design process, how to develop ideas and the role that creative methods play in generating and developing ideas.

• Designing Things People Need

  This module challenges you to create ingenious solutions to everyday problems for a real person. You'll use research methods, creative techniques, prototyping and testing methods, and communication and storytelling techniques to research, develop, test and propose viable human-centred design solutions. You'll enhance your 2D, 3D and digital skills. Work will be carried out in design teams (groups) and you will learn methods and approaches to enable effective group working.

• Introduction to Design History, Theory and Critical Thinking

  This module introduces you to the designers, design styles and movements that have helped to shape the world we live in and the way we design today. You'll also start to explore analytical skills such as critical thinking, close reading of texts and the examination of objects and images – helping you to understand design more fully and become a better designer.

• Digital Fabrication Methods

  This module introduces digital fabrication principles, methods and tools which are explored and applied in a practical way through a series of mini design exercises, followed by an integrated project. The activities relate to CAD/CAM, 3D printing and scanning, electronics design and production, and wired and wireless communications enabling you to make a wide variety of prototypes. You will focus on learning how to use the tools, understanding the theory of how they work along with a critical evaluation of their applications.

George McPherson with his final-year project, his chair Oritatami, from the Japanese word for ‘to fold’.

Year 2

In your second year, you choose a specialist studio in which to work (the Design Studio module), learning alongside third years in a mutually beneficial vertical studios system.

Each studio relates to a different area of design (for example, human factors, UX design, sustainable design, and emotion and society).

Modules

• Design Studio 1
• Design Studio 2
• Contextualising Theory and Practice
• Product Design Technologies

Options*

• Design Thematic Practice
• Design for a Global Context
• Edible Campus
• Critical Spacial Practice in Public
• Re-imagining the House
• Excursions in Immensity
• Collection
• Digital Craftsperson

*Option modules are indicative and may change, depending on timetabling and staff availability.

Peter Barr, 2018 graduate, with his VASO portable device which helps to locate patients’ veins for cannulation. Designed for his final project, Peter was interviewed by BBC Breakfast about his product.

Placement 

The third year is an optional placement year spent working in industry – our placements team will support you to find your placement.

You might choose to spend this year in local or international industry, gaining professional experience. Students undertake placements with larger organisations such as Airbus, Body Shop, Coty, Disney, Lego, McDonalds, Rolls Royce and Thales, as well as smaller local SMEs such as BMI, Crown Hockey, HM Trailers, Synergy Medical Technology and Welland Medical.

You can work for a number of companies rather than just one or begin working as a self-employed designer.

Read an interview with student George Gilliat who did his placement at Lego in Denmark.

Final year

In your final year you choose a specialist studio in which to work on your final major project (Design Studio module). You will increasingly focus on independent study and specialisms, developing a portfolio that works for your professional ambitions.

Modules

• Professional Design Pathways
• Design Studio 3
• Design Studio 4
• Dissertation
• Product Design Technologies

As you begin your final year there is an option to choose to graduate with a BA(Hons) degree rather than a BSc.

Jack Moore's final-year project at the 2019 graduate show, a piece of public space furniture which encourages positive social interaction between users.

Facilities 

As a Product Design student you will have access to excellent specialist design facilities and generous studio space equipped with a presentation area including screens and whiteboards.

Technicians are on hand to offer expert guidance on the use of all facilities. They offer support and training with machinery and software as well as providing professional knowledge and advice for making and manufacturing your prototypes.

Workshops and equipment include:

• computer facilities include specialised software such as Photoshop, Illustrator and Solidworks
• 3D print workspace with over 12 different printers and finishing areas
• wood workshop
• metal and welding workshop
• finishing room equipped with spray booths
• wind tunnel
• Computer Numerical Control (CNC) workshop with a five-axis CNC machine.

360 facilities tour
Take a look at our studio and workshop facilities 

Meet the team

International requirements and visas

We can help you meet our English language or academic entry requirements.

Visas and immigration advice

Portfolio advice

Applying for a place in 2020?
We appreciate that a school curriculum may affect what you are able to present and that some applicants may not have a formal portfolio. However, you should look at presenting a range of work that demonstrates an understanding of the skills that you need to undertake design project work. These skills include:

• an eye for insight
• determination
• analytical as well as creative working
• practical as well as theoretical working.

You can draw from your extracurricular activities as well as your schoolwork.

It can be tempting to include a lot in your portfolio, but we advise you to limit it to a few pages of your best work. This is a good way to more concisely demonstrate your abilities

Course fees

If you choose to take the professional placement (sandwich) year offered on this course you will pay a reduced fee during this year. Our fee for the professional placement year is £1,290 for home students and £2,076 for international students. This fee may be subject to small increases, in line with inflation.

The costs of the basic materials needed to produce working prototypes are included within the tuition fees, although some students, particularly in the final year, may provide additional resources as they seek to optimise the commercial success of their products on graduation.

An educational licence for Solidworks CAD software is also normally provided.

You may benefit from the university's stand at the New Designers' exhibition of emerging design talent or our inclusion in the EU-funded Erasmus overseas exchange programme.

What's included

You may have to pay additional costs during your studies, although we have tried to keep this to a minimum. The cost of optional activities is not included in your tuition fee and you will need to meet this cost in addition to your fees. A summary of the costs that you may be expected to pay, and what is included, whilst studying a course in the School of Architecture and Design are listed below:

• In your first year of studies, you will need to buy a drawing and modelling toolkit. Each course will suggest a list of items of which some will be essential, and others optional. You should budget around £100–£250 for these.
• For most courses you will need to budget between £100 to £300 per year for printing and portfolio costs. Costs will vary depending on type of printer and type and size of paper used. Some students tend to work digitally, spending more on printing and some by hand, spending more on materials so these costs vary widely between students.
• Most essay and report submissions can be made online however, you should budget around £25 for printing and binding dissertations in your final year.
• For most courses you will need to budget between £10 and £100 for material costs per design project. Costs will vary depending on how and what you use to make models. You are encouraged to recycle used materials where possible.
• Course books are available from the university but you may wish to budget from £15 to £100 per year to buy your own copies and subscribe to design magazines.
• You will have access to computers and necessary software, however many students choose to buy their own hardware, software and accessories. The amount spent will depend on your individual choices but this expenditure is not essential to pass any of our courses. Find out what free software is available from the university.
• You will need to budget between £5–£50 to exhibit work for the end-of-year show. Fundraising by the student society, BIAAS, normally helps towards this cost.
• Most courses include mandatory site visits and travel expenses are included in the fees.
• There will be opportunities to attend additional study trips throughout the course but these are not required to pass your course. The cost of travel to them will be covered by the course but there may be additional costs varying from a packed lunch to entrance to a museum.
• International field trips are offered in each year which are optional and are not required to pass your course. You should expect to budget approximately £150–£350 for these, to cover flight, accommodation, food and entrance to museums. The total amount spent would be based on location and number of trips taken.

You can chat with our enquiries team through the Stay in touch panel at the end of this page if you require further information. Or check our finance pages for advice about funding and scholarships as well as more information about fees and advice on international and island fee-paying status

Info

The fees listed here are for full-time courses beginning in the academic year 2020–21.

Further tuition fees are payable for each subsequent year of study and are subject to an annual increase of no more than 5% or RPI (whichever is the greater). The annual increase for UK/EU students, who are subject to regulated fees, will increase no more than the statutory maximum fee.

You can find out more about our fees in the university's student contract and tuition fee policy (pdf).

The tuition fee you have to pay depends on a number of factors including the kind of course you take, and whether you study full-time or part-time. If you are studying part-time you will normally be charged on a pro rata basis depending on the number of modules you take.

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