Undergraduate Prospectus 2010

Why product design?

Product design is about the creation of new items that people will buy. It includes appearance and function, and needs the balance of science and art for its success. Styling and function are crucial to commercial success, and through product design you will gain a thorough understanding of the processes involved in turning ideas into attractive and useful products. Shape, colour, user perception, usability and sustainability are just some of the elements you will learn to work with.

You will be at the forefront of the next generation of ideas, concepts and prototypes, and you will develop your creativity and technical expertise.

Why product design at Sussex?

• Rated 14th in the UK for ‘General Engineering and Mineral and Mining Engineering’ research in the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise (RAE). 95 per cent of our research was rated as recognised internationally or higher, and 60 per cent rated as internationally excellent or higher.
• Our programmes are accredited by the professional Institution of Engineering Designers (IED).
• The Sussex Creativity zone, part of InQbate (the Centre of Excellence for Teaching and Learning in Creativity), provides a technology-rich environment in which to explore and augment innate creativity.
• Over £1-million investment in a newly equipped undergraduate laboratory building provides design project labs, prototyping and manufacture facilities with disabled access and technician support on hand.
• Our teaching team has expertise in design consultancy, art and design, as well as engineering design.

What sort of career could I have?

• employment in sectors such as consumer products, the built environment, communications, transport, environment, marketing, the supply chain, health and medicine
• entrepreneurship
• graphics designer
• lighting or furniture designer
• web designer
• business development manager.

Examples of employers of our graduates include:

• design consultancies
• Ford
• Star Creative Communications
• Babel Media
• Eva Menz Design.

How will I learn?

Professional product designers need skills in styling, technical competence and creativity, as well as financial skills, the use of management techniques, the ability to communicate effectively and the ability to work with others in a multidisciplinary and fast-changing environment. Interpersonal and professional skills are developed through teamwork and business and project management.

The programme offers the interdisciplinary knowledge base that is so essential to designers. This provides you with both the skills to communicate effectively across the whole spectrum of design and the foundation on which training in a specialist branch of design can be built.

We place particular emphasis on the use of multimedia in learning, developing and practising design skills. This begins with the basics of computer systems and is built upon with Visual Communications, Design Without Borders and Virtual Reality Systems, as well as extensive training and project work in CAD (Computer Aided Design). You will gain experience of the tools being developed in industry at the same time as honing your creative and design skills.

What will I achieve?

• A broad knowledge of marketing, styling, design and manufacturing skills.
• Experience of the multidisciplinary nature of design.
• Advanced specialist knowledge of design tools.
• Extensive project-based work to develop skills.
• Appreciation of industrial practice.
• Development of skills in modern design methods.
• A portfolio of your design work.
• The ability to convert a product specification into a design concept and to refine the concept into a product.
• You also learn to manage your own personal professional career development in preparation for further study or the world of work, or beyond.