This immersive course delves into the dynamic discipline of product design, equipping students with the knowledge and skills to create and lead innovative, user-centric, and sustainable solutions that meet the needs of the user, market and the environment. Drawing from complementary disciplines, the course emphasizes the importance of holistic thinking, and fosters a deep understanding of design’s impact and influence on both society and industry.

Through a blend of lectures, guest speakers, and hands-on activities, the course will explore the fundamentals of product design: creation of a functional design brief that clearly articulates the problem and sets the stage for ideation and design exploration; introduction to the fundamentals of sketching and its role in visualizing and communicating design concepts; importance of iterative design – define, refine, repeat; and the power of brand strategy.

The curriculum emphasizes the significance of aesthetics, functionality, and manufacturing feasibility, while also incorporating user-centric approaches such as jobs-to-be-done and design justice. The course will provide invaluable insights into the design process, enabling students to translate ideas into tangible, impactful, and viable physical products.

Course Structure: 
1. Industrial Design: introduction and history
2. Crafting the Design Brief
3. Ideation and Conceptualization
4. Prototyping and Iteration
5. Brand Design and Strategy
6. Presentation and Reflection