About This Course
If you’re interested in making your imagination a reality this is the course for you. It focuses on a wide range of design sectors immersing you in the design and manufacture of products. You’ll study human centred design and design thinking methodologies. Every year project work placements with industrial partners will challenge and develop you both creatively and professionally, allowing you to experience a diverse range of working environments, projects and companies.
What is design? Is it…?
- Making people’s lives better?
- Improving the way things work?
- How we organise things?
- Improving the ways we communicate?
- How we think strategically?
- Using imagination to create real things?
- Making change to communities?
- Imagining and designing the future?
- Designing experiences and products that people love?
- Improving and innovating products and services?
- Starting creative businesses?
- Making difficult decisions?
- Working with others for the greater good?
- Making the world a better place?
If you said yes to one or more of these, you are a future product designer! Product Design is about making your imagination a reality. Everything we experience in our built environment has been created by people for people. Designers come from different backgrounds, some have creative skills, some have technical skills, but all are visionaries who are dedicated to improving the world around them. Product Design encompasses a wide range of careers for creative people who want to problem solve, innovate and change the world.
If you’re interested in making your imagination a reality this is the course for you. It focuses on a wide range of design sectors immersing you in the design and manufacture of products. Every year project work placements with industrial partners will challenge and develop you both creatively and professionally, allowing you to experience a diverse range of working environments, projects and companies.
Why choose Bangor University for this course?
- 3rd for Student Satisfaction (Complete University Guide 2021).
- 2nd for Employment after 3 Years (Longitudinal Education Outcomes Survey 2020).
- Only UK Product Design course with three separate industrial work placements.
- Develop skills enabling you to bring innovative products to market, making life better, easier and more productive for consumers and companies.
- Learn to manage commercial projects professionally, allowing companies to be more effective, competitive and relevant in the world today.
Course Content
This design course is unlike any other in the UK as it allows you to tailor your experiences to becoming a changemaker, innovator and leader.
During this 3 year course you’ll develop skills which enable you to bring innovative products to market, making life better, easier and more productive for consumers who value a new way of doing things. You’ll learn to manage commercial projects professionally allowing companies to be more effective, competitive and relevant in the world today. We are committed to ensuring that you gain the skills needed to make a difference, and help put into action what’s best for people and the planet.
Our graduates have a firm belief that their energy and contribution allow them to perform a role that is highly valued by industry, over 90% of our students graduate into jobs with many of them securing a post at their second or third year placement companies.
What will you study on this course?
The course is designed to give you a broad foundation in design through live projects with companies and industrial experience which consists of four modules in each year:
- Workplace Experience
- Design Subject Study (two modules)
- Professional Practice
This is the only course in the UK to offer three workplace experiences, one every year in a company of your choice. This enables you to tailor your experiences to match your career aspirations and allows you to specialise or gain a wide breadth of experience which future employers will value.
A range of briefs will challenge and develop you both creatively and professionally. Projects with industrial partners will ensure a grounding and context of how industry works. Your challenge is to be creative and ensure innovation within the given challenge.
Our graduates are highly employable, and their design-thinking skills are now used to make the world a better place, they solve problems for customers, users, clients and companies all over the world.
Workplace Experience consists of 24 weeks over three years:
• 8 week block during each year
• Supported by experienced mentors
• Visits by college link tutors
• Excellent portfolio generation
• Collaboration experience
• Involvement in real projects
• Personal and Professional Development
• Career driven experiences
The skills and talents learnt on work placement and during University study are transferable to the real world, with many of our students continuing to work for their third year work placement company after graduation. Some of the placements companies that our students have gone to include:
- Unilever
- Bentley
- International Safety Components
- CK Tools
- Fifth Wheel Company
- Prism Medical UK
- JCB
- Jaguar Land Rover
- Westbridge Furniture Design
- DMM
- Survitec
In the Design Subject Study modules you will study human centred design and design thinking methodologies. These include:
- Principles of Design Thinking
- Creativity
- Design Communication and Modelling
- Computer Aided Design (CAD)
- Computer Aided Manufacture (CAM)
- Manufacturing Skills
- Prototyping
- Sustainable Development and the Circular Economy
- Presentation Skills
The Professional Practice lectures are designed to make you competent in the issues that affect product designers in industry you will study:
- Design Innovation for industry
- Strategic leadership
- Project Management
- Organisations and Management
- Marketing
- Presentation Skills
Facilities
Multi materials prototyping workshop
In this area you will have full access to the equipment which allows you to develop and produce fully working prototypes and be able to improve your production skills to be become aware of practices in industry. This space is continuously supported by technical staff and lecturing staff as part of dedicated teaching sessions to develop your skills.
- Specific equipment includes:
- Pillar drills
- A range of sanders and metal linishers
- Bandsaws
- Metal lathes and milling machines
- Hot metal forming areas
- Shot blasting cabinet
- Plastic heat forming areas
- Laser cutters and vacuum formers
- Specific wood machining facilities and equipment
- Composite and silicone moulding facilities
- Paint spray booth and finishing areas
- Vinyl cutting and sublimation printing equipment
- CNC lathe, milling machine, plasma cutter and routers
- Industrial 3D printing and wash tank facilities
- Studio spaces with access to 20 small 3D printers
CAD suite with 35 high spec machines
This room is used for taught lectures (CAD, digital graphics, professional practice) and also for students to use autonomously as required (students will also be supplied with specialist software including Solidworks, Adobe Creative Suite & Microsoft office).
General University Facilities
Library and Archive Services
Our four libraries provide a range of attractive study environments including collaborative work areas, meeting rooms and silent study spaces.
We have an extensive collection of books and journals and many of the journals are available online in full-text format.
We house one of the largest university-based archives not only in Wales, but also the UK. Allied to the Archives is the Special Collections of rare printed books.
Learning Resources
There is a range of learning resources available, supported by experienced staff, to help you in your studies.
The University’s IT Services provides computing, media and reprographics facilities and services including:
- Over 1,150 computers for students, with some PC rooms open 24 hours a day
- Blackboard, a commercial Virtual Learning Environment, that makes learning materials available on-line.
Careers
Currently our Applied Product Design degree course has one of the highest rates of employability across the country. This is due to the structure of the course which turns our graduates into highly professional and employable designers and all of our students agree that the course provides an excellent preparation for employment in a wide range of industries.
Previous students have been employed as:
- Agency designers
- Product designers in consultancies
- Technical specialists in engineering and CAD
- Production engineers
- Production managers
- Technical designer
- Interior design
- Furniture design
- Design engineers
- Graphic designers
- Digital designer
- Jewellery designers
- Marketing managers
- Business development managers
- Innovations solutions lead
- Strategy managers
- Self-employed business owners
- Independent consultants
- Teachers in secondary education
EXPLORE MORE IN PRODUCT DESIGN
Product Design is about making your imagination a reality. Everything we experience in our built environment has been created by people for people. The design course at Bangor is unlike any other in the UK as it allows you to tailor your experiences in preparation to becoming a changemaker, innovator and leader.
Additional Course Options
This course is available with a Placement Year option where you will study for 1 additional year. The Placement Year is undertaken at the end of the second year and students are away for the whole of the academic year.
The Placement Year provides you with a fantastic opportunity to broaden your horizons and develop valuable skills and contacts through working with a self-sourced organisation relevant to your degree subject. The minimum period in placement (at one or more locations) is seven calendar months; more usually you would spend 10-12 months with a placement provider. You would normally start sometime in the period June to September of your second year and finish between June and September the following year. Placements can be UK-based or overseas and you will work with staff to plan and finalise the placement arrangements.
You will be expected to find and arrange a suitable placement to complement your degree and will be fully supported throughout by a dedicated member of staff at your academic School and the University’s Skills and Employability Services.
You will have the opportunity to fully consider this option when you have started your course at Bangor and can make an application for a transfer onto this pathway at the appropriate time. If you have any questions in the meantime, please get in touch.
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