Introduction to Product Design 1: Process (H7063F)

15 credits, Level 3 (sub-degree)

Autumn teaching

How are new products born? What does it take for an idea to become a fully finished, mass-manufactured product in a shelf, ready for sale?

This is the first of two modules aimed at providing you with an initial taster of the field of product design, and the type of activities involved in professional practice.

You will develop an idea for a new product, and develop it into a fully functional prototype in response to a given design brief. In the process, you will gain knowledge of the basic processes, techniques, tools and theory behind new product development, and gain awareness of the multiple dimensions of a product.

You will learn how to:

  • understand a design brief
  • carry out research,
  • enounce a clear problem statement
  • come up with ideas
  • develop and evaluate your ideas
  • communicate those ideas using a variety of tools and methods
  • and present your design solutions to an audience.

The module assumes no previous knowledge and aims to equip you through the right balance of both theory and practice. You will spend a considerable amount of time developing yout designs in the classroom, and will be expected to spend an equally substantial amount of time on this task outside of the classroom.

Teaching

100%: Seminar

Assessment

100%: Coursework (Portfolio)

Contact hours and workload

This module is approximately 150 hours of work. This breaks down into about 33 hours of contact time and about 117 hours of independent study. The University may make minor variations to the contact hours for operational reasons, including timetabling requirements.

We regularly review our modules to incorporate student feedback, staff expertise, as well as the latest research and teaching methodology. We’re planning to run these modules in the academic year 2022/23. However, there may be changes to these modules in response to feedback, staff availability, student demand or updates to our curriculum. We’ll make sure to let you know of any material changes to modules at the earliest opportunity.

Courses

This module is offered on the following courses: