Introduction To Product Design

How do designers generate ideas? Where do ideas come from? A finished product is a combination of understanding form, function and material. In this beginners course you'll be encouraged to look for ways of arriving at new possibilities. With an emphasis on the creative process and self-direction, it will take you from an initial brief through to your own product design and presentation.

The course will give you a taster of what practicing product design involves. Although there will be some soft model making, this is a studio-based, rather than a workshop-based course. The focus will be on the generation of ideas and design thinking.

You'll explore how to represent design concepts through drawing exercises and how to document ideas through sketches and photographs. You will also be introduced to a number of processes and vocabulary employed in 3D design.

There will be tutor briefs and presentations, but students can expect to spend a considerable amount of class time developing their own design ideas.

Topics covered

We will start with a short introduction to the college’s design orientation and library resources.

Using a four-stage design model (research, idea generation, development, and presentation), practice-based projects will guide students through the language and the practices of product design. Topics covered will include:

• professional terminology
• 2d and 3d design
• sketch-drawing
• studio soft model making
• design development
• manufacturing processes
• orthographic drawing
• presentation

Who should take this course?

This course would be useful for preparation of a portfolio for application to further study.

It usually attracts a broad audience and it is suitable for anyone with an interest on the subject who wants to develop their own design ideas.

Entry requirements: None. However, for the part-time 10 week courses, in order to fully benefit from the course, students should complete assigned tasks between classes.

Level: Beginners

Please note: This course is for students aged 18 and older