Product designers have a huge influence on the form, function and style of many of the objects we use in our daily lives – everything from kettles to telephones to televisions – as well as creating much more specialist products, such as medical equipment.
Individual designers often focus on a particular area, such as consumer electronics, automotive design or indeed medical equipment, but many of the product designer’s skills are transferable between projects and products.
As well as the requisite 3D design abilities, product designers need to have a broad understanding of other important factors such as ergonomics, materials, manufacturing processes, branding, marketing, lifestyles, trends and so on. Much of this is learnt on the job by working to design briefs for different clients, but it is worth gaining as broad a view of manufacturing, technology and consumer markets.
The course has been designed to encourage students to take a broad view of design and technology,
to develop their capacity to design and make products and to appreciate the complex relations between design, materials, manufacture and marketing. The skills that are needed for a career in this area are:
- An ability to communicate an idea quickly, accurately, imaginatively
- Have a level of technical understanding of manufacturing processes – people need to be able to explain how you will make something,
- Have an understanding of supply chains,
- Have an understanding or awareness of branding and marketing techniques
- The course aims to develop these skills through the project work completed over the 2 years and hopes to develop awareness in students of design and its limitations.
- It is helpful but not necessary for candidates to have studied GCSE Design and Technology before commencing work on this specification and no prior knowledge of design and technology is required for candidates to undertake a course of study based on this specification.
