BDes (Hons) Product Design

Module: 4VA005

Credits: 60

Period: 1

Type: Core

Locations: Wolverhampton City Campus

This module aims to introduce you to the range of workshops, resources and staff working across the School of Art and to provide you with specialist making and media instruction. It is an intensive studio and workshop based module and throughout the year you will undertake a series of studio, workshop, software and material based projects that will provide a foundation for your developing independent work. As a Level 4 student in the School of Art you will be supported to make the leap between your prior educational experiences and full time art, craft and design practice. You will develop time management skills through structured tasks and increasingly you will be expected to make use of independent study hours to further test and progress your work in the studios and workshops. In this module you will also learn to document and record your work effectively and gain confidence in reflecting on your work in sketchbooks, journals, blogs, group reviews and tutorials in relation to a range of contextual ideas, artists, craftspeople and designers associated with project briefs and self-initiated work.

Module: 4VA006

Credits: 60

Period: 1

Type: Core

Locations: Wolverhampton City Campus

This module aims to provide you with the time and space to develop increasing ownership of project briefs. These will be tutor led or negotiated in order to help you build skills, and support you to become more experimental and speculative in the production of your work. The emphasis, in this module, is on process and practice rather than end product. Throughout the module you will be encouraged to test new approaches and ideas and to reflect on the successes and importantly, the failures of your work. In tutorials and group reviews you will be asked to reflect on these experiences and to consider how you might learn from speculation and the feedback of potential audiences to re-think and re-work your ideas. This module also aims to introduce you to a range of models of practice and contextual knowledge that will help you understand contemporary art, craft and design practice and its relationship to society more fully. You will engage in subject specialist lectures and seminars and produce a range of creative and academic contextual assignments. Again the module aims to encourage you to organise your time effectively, work more independently and demonstrate the personal curiosity to find and evaluate contextual ideas alongside art, craft and design work that has a specific value for you and your work.

Module: 5VA006

Credits: 60

Period: 2

Type: Core

Locations: Wolverhampton City Campus

This module will provide a framework for you to develop a range of skills in, and knowledge of, practical ideas development through design specification. Topics may include: practical real world issues, trends, new and emerging technologies, manufacturing and construction considerations. The module will support you with more advanced model-making techniques related to your subject specialism to extend and enhance your creative realisation skills. This module will continue the use of traditional workshop skills and digital fabrication technologies to create a diverse range of solutions, through a range of techniques and processes that will enable you to advance your understanding of the potential and constraints of various materials and structures. You will be taken through the principles of designing in detail from the basics of designing within specific restrictions to how these relate to the problems of project realisation and user requirements in your specialist area. You will be required to research initial concepts and investigate the potential and constraints of materials and processes in consideration with design solutions for specific audiences demonstrating an understanding of real world issues. You will be given the opportunity to expand the drawing capabilities appropriate to your specialist area and to develop your visual language skills as well as learning the fundamentals of design communication, production requirements, and material specification. You will be required to expand initial concepts and investigate the potential and constraints of materials, as well as to source manufacturing and specification information for all materials suitable for your projects, with the aim to be able to provide full costing to give to potential clients and industry partners. You are encouraged to explore local and/or regional exhibitions and record information found in a reflective diary format. The recording, in a technical notebook, of all findings and conclusions, evidence of first hand research gathering, exposure to trade and design exhibitions, and project planning will underpin all activities. Alongside working independently within the studios, you are encouraged to liaise with local and/or regional appropriate to your specialism, in order to evaluate the potential of your designs and production methods.

Module: 5VA005

Credits: 60

Period: 2

Type: Core

Locations: Wolverhampton City Campus

This module aims to extend your experience and knowledge of specialist making, media, art and design methodologies and research methods, providing you with the opportunity to explore and investigate conceptual development, and to research practice techniques and methods. You will be predominantly based in the studios, computer and material workshops and through a mixture of demonstrations, workshops, group critiques and material experimentation, alongside contextual research, you will develop work that gives you the opportunity to evaluate your methods, discuss initial concepts and develop appropriate practice proposals. You will also begin to consider in more depth an engagement with wider contexts and audiences, developing and communicating your material and creative art, craft and design vocabulary through increasingly independent work. While this will be within a structure of contextual research, materials experimentation and design development, it will be important to develop your own methodologies. You will do this through undertaking primary research, investigating a range of material, textual, digital and media-based resources, develop appropriate creative responses and be able to communication visually and verbally in a comprehensive record of your studies and a reflective engagement with your subject.

Module: 6VA006

Credits: 60

Period: 3

Type: Core

Locations: Wolverhampton City Campus

Within this module you are expected to explore a range of conceptual design methodologies in order to develop well-considered, creative responses to your personal proposals and investigations to form a professional body of work. Your work will demonstrate broad yet specific approaches to your understanding of the contextual and theoretical framework of 3D design. Followed by a period of evaluation and review, you will further define this body of work to produce a series of concepts and individual design outcomes. This will lead to a refined body of study. Following this evaluative stage you will develop appropriate design solutions that engage in experimentation and testing of theories and methodologies to fully meet your specified aims and culminating in a well-informed solution. This module takes you through a project from a concept to resolution that spans the final year of study and is designed to expand your awareness and understanding of the environment in which a professional designer will operate, and provide a framework for you to select design themes from your personal research and resolve this to a professional standard. Your work continues through the design and solution stages and this part of the project is used to emphasise varied design proposals to final solutions and should also include active experimentation. Activities are expected to be varied and project dependent, you will be expected to make use of modelling and realisation skills to support your work, material experimentation, computer aided technology and appropriate well informed communication techniques in the progress of your design and feasibility studies. Your project needs to be resolved fully, and adhere to technical industry standards. You will be expected to take advantage of previously taught elements to arrive at your own design solutions, employing concepts, models and design visuals, culminating in the effective presentation and communication of your work.

Module: 6VA005

Credits: 60

Period: 3

Type: Core

Locations: Wolverhampton City Campus

This module further develops your independent professional practice and personal creative journey, supporting the projects you undertake in your other module. You will increase your awareness and understanding of the environment in which an independent artist, craftsperson and designer might operate, researching relevant subject specific contexts and professional models of presentation that will establish relevant and informed positions for your practice. You will also have the opportunity to undertake the University Employability Award. These varied activites will provide you with a framework through which to develop your practice in readiness for the degree show and other external opportunities. In order to achieve this, throughout the module, you will be supported to develop a portfolio of practice that emerges from personally generated research interests or in response to appropriate externally set projects with companies, organisations and entrepreneurs. During the module, you will place your own work into the broader creative industries and will be exploring key issues relevant to, and directly driven by, your practice. The module develops and prepares you to utilise a substantial piece of written work, alongside verbal and visual presentation techniques in order to evaluate and to express an informed opinion. Ultimately this module aims will develop methods and materials that will assist your professional launch.

A distinctive approach due to:

• The opportunity to participate in prestigious national and international design competitions.
• Excellent links with industry
• Taught by practicing artists and designers
• Opportunities for work placements
• Career development and engagement with the University's Employability Award
• Well-equipped workshops supported by dedicated technicians. See facilities
• Extensive digital prototyping facilities for both large and small-scale work
• National and international study visits
• An optional placement year
• Vibrant and lively creative studio environment
• Excellent opportunities to work closely with our industry partners on real product design project

Student Success

Students secure prize in national design competition

Six students studying for Interior, Product and Furniture Design degrees travelled to London to compete against seven other universities in a one day design project run by the British Institute of Interior Design (BIID) – the professional organisation for interior designers in the UK. More details here >>

Six students studying Interior Design and Product Design took part in a “24 hours of Innovation” event run by Ecole Superieure Des Technologies Industrielles Avances (ESTIA) in France, and won! David Henley, Course Leader in Product Design at the University, said: “This event sets a challenge to create innovation within a 24 hour period. The main objective is to create new and innovative concepts, products and services based on themes and subjects proposed by companies, laboratories and creators. The Design department in the Wolverhampton School of Art has taken part in the competition for the past 6 years and we’ve been successful in 4 of the competitions – proving that the calibre of students studying on our degree courses is extremely high.”

More details here>>.

The member of academic staff who leads this course is Rhys Thomas