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Objectives
Product designers need to be able to conceptualise and evaluate design ideas as well as specify and make products. This practice based course is for people who can think creatively, with a range of design outcomes including consumer product design, packaging, furniture, interface and wearable technology.
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Entry requirements
For entry on to the course you will be expected to have successfully completed Foundation Studies in Art & Design and possess two A-levels and five GCSEs (including three passes in academic subjects) at grade C or above. We also welcome applicants with qualifications equivalent to these. as part of your application you will be asked to submit a portfolio of your art and design work.
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Academic title
BA Product Design
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Course description
BA Product Design
Programme
Stage 1: Year 1 Exploration and Self-Development
Your growing technical and creative skills are put into context by developing an understanding of how people react to everyday objects and their environment and through visits to manufacturers and design studios.
Stage 2: Year 2 Integration and Realisation
Here emphasis is placed on a range of product design issues, which encourage you to realise a series of design outcomes. Visiting speakers are invited to relate their professional experience, giving you insights into the product design industry.
Towards the end of the year there is period of reflection which allows you to review your future aspirations and to determine how you would best use the remainder of the course. This is achieved by developing a Personal Career Plan. The intention is that from this point forward you will take more responsibility for initiating, directing, and managing your own learning. The year culminates in a self-initiated project.
Stage 3: Year 3 Self-Directed and Professional Practice
This comprises three projects which bring together the core skills, knowledge, and understandings you have developed in the previous two years of the programme. The course team look to identify a series of mentors from industry relevant to the design activities you are undertaking in your Self-Initiated project. These mentors provide you with an objective viewpoint and impart their specialist knowledge and understanding of the subject area. This is particularly useful if you are working in a new or emerging area.
You will also be asked to complete a Context and Rationale Paper to support your Self-Initiated Project, and will produce a theoretical analysis supported by Cultural Studies which may be associated with it. The summer term provides the opportunity to experience professional practice with Client Projects that embrace a range of different activities from corporate design strategies through to mainstream product design.
