Product Design BA (Hons)
Option for Placement Year
Option for Study Abroad
Option for Placement Year
Option for Study Abroad
Please note: our Design courses are currently being updated therefore this course is subject to validation. First entry to this course is September 2025, for September 2024 entry, please visit Product Design.
Product Design BA (Hons) fosters a critical, analytical and creative approach to designing products, services and experiences.
Formerly known as 'Design for Industry', product design has been delivered at Northumbria for over forty years. During this time, our excellent teaching staff have empowered graduate designers with the knowledge, skills and creative confidence to design products, services and experiences relevant to the needs of people, society and business. We are proud to state that the world’s foremost design leaders and countless globally respected design practitioners are ex-graduates of our course.
Combining industry-run projects with academic learning, we ensure that you have the skills necessary to make a significant contribution to your chosen field of professional industrial design practice.
See other courses you may be interested in: BA (Hons) Furniture and Product Design
Globally Recognised Design School - In 2023, members of Northumbria's Design school travelled to New York where they were awarded Best Design School in the highly anticipated International Contemporary Furniture Fair.
Pioneering Alumni - Including Sir Jonathan Ive, Former Chief Design Officer at Apple, and Richard Brownlie-Marshall, Creative Designer for Pret A Manger and Founder of Mindful Chef.
Top Department - Northumbria is ranked 6th in the UK for Product Design studies (Guardian University League Table, 2024).
Research Powerhouse - Art and Design at Northumbria is ranked 4th in the UK for research power (REF, 2021). This is a rise of 6 places compared to 2014.
Graduate Prospects - Product Design at Northumbria is ranked 6th in the UK for Graduate Prospects (Guardian University Guide, 2024). This is because 87% of our graduates are in highly skilled employment or further study 15 months after graduation.
Student Rated - 93% of students studying Design at Northumbria believed they had chance to explore ideas and concepts in depth (NSS, 2023).
There was a problem retrieving the course fee.
Look out for module specifics coming soon. Please keep checking this web page for updated information.
In Year One, you will develop your knowledge, skills and expertise in the dynamic and challenging field of Product Design. You will engage in creative projects allowing you to explore the intricacies of the design process, essential factors and master techniques. This foundation mixed with materials, human factors and manufacturing awareness will empower your design and communication abilities.
In Year Two, you will build on your knowledge and experience acquired during your first year, focusing on your professional design practice and user-experience through more demanding briefs addressing complex emerging issues. By the end of this year, you will have produced a well-considered portfolio of work to date, vital when seeking a placement or study abroad.
In Year Three, you will have the optional opportunity to take a year-long placement in industry enabling you to explore the possibilities for your future career whilst gaining hands-on experience. You will also have the optional opportunity to undertake a study abroad with our partner Universities broadening your overall cultural and learning experience.
In your Final Year, you will be given more creative freedom allowing you to conceptualise and realise a self-directed design project. You will have the opportunity to investigate and engage in your chosen area of interest, employing a diverse range of methods to analyse markets and target audiences, skills and techniques to produce a product concept that is original, imaginative and credible.
The course has a strong track-record of working with industry and external collaborators. This gives you the opportunity to apply your creative skills to real-world challenges set by our industry partners. Over our 40-plus year history, we have built an unrivalled network of industry contacts who come back to give guest lectures and set projects.
You have the opportunity to undertake industry placements – a feature of the course since its beginning. This means we are well set-up to help you find placements / internships, with mentoring to help you prepare a portfolio ready for you to apply for placement and graduate roles.
Notable Alumni
Product Design at Northumbria (formerly known as Design for Industry) has produced graduates who you may recognise:
As a student, you will be encouraged to consider the positive contribution you can make to the world as a designer. You will synthesise aesthetics, function, technical knowledge, making skills, social responsibility, and cultural awareness through a wide range of briefs. Commercially driven projects will see you creatively utilise a manufacturer’s technical capacities and market position. New technologies will enable you to explore innovative forms, user-interactions, or new approaches to sustainability issues. Diverse ideas and aesthetics from old or overlooked sources will inspire you to define new territories in contemporary practice. You will be empowered to develop and realise your vision of what material culture could and should be like.
Our staff team can offer you a holistic academic support system due to their wealth of experience in teaching and working in global industry. They are also active researchers in areas such as ‘Responsible Innovation Practice’, ‘Design History’ and ‘Pitching Design Concepts’. Their expertise ensures currency in the quality of the teaching you will receive.
You will also have access to dedicated technicians with skills in woodwork, metalwork, model making, experience prototyping and 3D printing.
As a Product Design student, you will benefit from generous access to studios, workshops, photography, and computer facilities.
Studio spaces are set up for lectures/presentations as well as being suitable for creating sketch work and paper and card models. They will provide a base for you throughout your timetabled activities and beyond, as somewhere to share your learning experience with other students and staff. Dedicated cabinet making, metal smithing, engineering, fabrication, 3D printing, and CNC workshops are used to create prototypes.
You will be inducted and supported in these spaces by specialist technicians, and work with increasing independence as your competence grows. You will make your own prototypes as part of a hands-on learning process.
All information is accurate at the time of sharing.
Full time Courses are primarily delivered via on-campus face to face learning but could include elements of online learning. Most courses run as planned and as promoted on our website and via our marketing materials, but if there are any substantial changes (as determined by the Competition and Markets Authority) to a course or there is the potential that course may be withdrawn, we will notify all affected applicants as soon as possible with advice and guidance regarding their options. It is also important to be aware that optional modules listed on course pages may be subject to change depending on uptake numbers each year.
Contact time is subject to increase or decrease in line with possible restrictions imposed by the government or the University in the interest of maintaining the health and safety and wellbeing of students, staff, and visitors if this is deemed necessary in future.
Useful Links
Find out about our distinctive approach at
www.northumbria.ac.uk/exp
Admissions Terms and Conditions
northumbria.ac.uk/terms
Fees and Funding
northumbria.ac.uk/fees
Admissions Policy
northumbria.ac.uk/adpolicy
Admissions Complaints Policy
northumbria.ac.uk/complaints
Back to top
