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Introduction

3rd in the UK and 1st in Wales for Design & Crafts (Guardian League table 2022)

Product and furniture design is a strategic problem-solving process that drives innovation, builds business success, and leads to a better quality of life through innovative products, systems, services, and experiences. It bridges the gap between what is and what’s possible, harnessing creativity to resolve problems, and reframing them as opportunities. You will be encouraged to develop innovative approaches to the design, development and creation of products and furniture.

Product and furniture designers place the human at the centre of the process, building a deep understanding of user needs through empathy and applying a pragmatic, user-centric problem-solving process to design products, systems, services, and experiences. You will be uniquely positioned to bridge varied professional disciplines and business interests to co-create a better quality of life.

This programme allows you to build an in-depth knowledge of the design process, developing comprehensive knowledge and practical skills in designing for manufacture, as well as the analytical, evaluative and communicative skills needed when working as individuals or as part of a team. You will become critically aware of the social, environmental, and ethical framework within which you, as a design professional, will work as you learn to engage with clients’ requirements.

We do not require previous portfolio work as a necessity, we simply ask that you are a passionate creative, and have a burning desire to improve. With these in place, we can help you become a designer that makes a real-world impact.

Pathway Options

Product & Furniture Design (BA)
UCAS Code: PFD1

Product & Furniture Design (BSc)
UCAS Code: PFU1

Location

Swansea

Course Length

Full-time 3 years
UCAS Code: PFD1

Why choose this course?

1. Student Centric Learning
2. Live Industrial Briefs
3. Your Own Studio Space
4. State of the Art CAD & Workshop Facilities
5. Studying in a beautiful part of the world

Overview

Product and Furniture Design is all about fulfilling humanity’s imagination by creating a blueprint for a desired future. The BA/BSc programme philosophy and our vision is to encourage you to discover new ways of thinking and shape the relationships that consumers develop with the environment around them. It is the responsibility of you, the designer, to reflect on the past and create a sustainable way forward. This is your chance to implement change.

Through a balance of intellectual endeavour and design articulation, you will be tasked with competition and industry-led collaborative projects, where you will have the freedom to break the rules, think dynamically, be inquisitive, challenge convention in exploring the subtleties for good and meaningful design.

Both pathways are delivered together with the BA (Hons) focusing on the user experience — on human emotion — and the BSc (Hons) on designing for today through feature detailing and manufacturing. They give you the opportunity to pursue your aspirations by immersing yourself in a vibrant studio and workshop atmosphere, allowing you to experiment and have fun.

In the first year you are introduced to core design skills and knowledge, working on a range of studio and workshop projects whilst developing your understanding of professional working practices and independent study. n the second year we up the ante, expecting greater depth to your design arguments, so by the time you reach your third year, you are higher independent, professional and conversant in critical thinking and design practice.





Modules

Year One – Level 4 (Cert HE, Dip HE & BA/BSc)

• Contemporary Challenges: Making a Difference (20 credits; compulsory; Graduate Attributes Framework module)
• Design & Make 1 (20 credits; compulsory)
• Design Thinking (20 credits; compulsory)
• Learning in the Digital Era (20 credits; compulsory; Graduate Attributes Framework module)
• Technical Design (20 credits; compulsory)
• Ways of Perceiving (10 credits; compulsory)
• Ways of Thinking (10 credits; compulsory).

Year Two – Level 5 (Dip HE & BA/BSc)

• Changemakers: Building your Personal Brand for Sustainable Employment (20 credits; compulsory; Graduate Attributes Framework module)
• Changemakers: Creativity and Value Creation (20 credits; compulsory; Graduate Attributes Framework module)
• Design Exploration (20 credits; compulsory)
• Design for Manufacture (20 credits; compulsory)
• Design Realisation – CAD (10 credits; compulsory)
• Design Simulation – Virtual (10 credits; compulsory)
• Research in Context (10 credits; compulsory)
• Research in Practice (10 credits; compulsory).

Year Three – Level 6 (BA/BSc)

• Advanced Creative Enquiry (20 credits; compulsory)
• Independent Project (40 credits; compulsory; Graduate Attributes Framework module)
• Individual Major Project (60 credits; compulsory).

Entry Criteria

We are interested in creative people that demonstrate a strong commitment to art and/or design, and therefore we welcome applications from individuals from a wide range of backgrounds. To assess student suitability for their chosen course, we arrange interviews for all applicants at which your skills, achievements and life experience will be considered as well as your portfolio of work.

Our standard offer for a degree course is 120 UCAS tariff points. We expect applicants to have a grade C or above in English Language (or Welsh) at GCSE level, together with passes in another four subjects. Plus, we accept a range of Level 3 qualifications including:

• Foundation Diploma in Art and Design, plus one GCE A-Level in a relevant academic subject
• Three GCE A-Levels or equivalent
• BTEC Extended Diploma in a relevant subject, with minimum grades of Merit
• International Baccalaureate score of 32
• Other relevant qualifications can be considered on an individual basis

Qualifications are important; however, our offers are not solely based on academic results. If you don’t have the required UCAS points, we can also consider offers to applicants based on individual merit and exceptional work and/or practical experience.

ENTRY REQUIRED DOCUMENTS
Home Office Share Code
For EU students only.

IF no Qualification
Please provide CV with at least 2 years of work experience, and employee reference letter.

Assessment

ASSESSMENT METHODS

1. INTERNAL ENGLISH TEST if you don't have an English accredited certificate
2. Academic Interview

Assessment

Assessment is carried out through coursework, both written and practical. There are no exams on this course. You are formatively assessed reviews during a module, with the summative assessment taking place at the end of a module. A variety of teaching and learning methods are used throughout the course which includes amongst others;



Informal and Formal Tutorials

These tutorials are held on a regular basis, across all levels. In Year 1 you regularly discuss your work with a member of staff during the studio sessions, likewise in Year 2. In the third year, you tend to work more independently but benefit from weekly timetabled tutorials. We pride ourselves on the fact that you can see staff on a one to one basis.

Pastoral Tutorials

These tutorials give you the opportunity to discuss your progress and engagement with the whole programme and University life and raise any issues/concerns by either party.

Group Critiques

These are held on a regular basis, across all levels, during the course of the module, and provide an excellent opportunity for you to share and exchange ideas with your peers in a structured manner in addition to valuable input from staff.

Studio Projects

This is where you evidence your creativity, innovation and professionalism in presenting a variety of types of work for assessment such as; portfolios, sketchbooks and project journals, presentation artwork/visualization boards or real and virtual 3D models. The projects are set to examine your abilities to master the integration of new design principles and skills to your design practice.


Written Assignments

These are coursework elements that usually take the form of an illustrated paper or report that you undertake in your own time supported by scheduled tutorials. It is where you are expected to demonstrate critical insight and proficiency in articulating the results of a practice or research-based assignment.

Online Assignments

These are coursework elements which are undertaken and self-directed by yourself, usually submitted as an e-portfolio.

Informal & Formal Presentations

The nature of the presentations varies according to your level: in Year 1 informal presentations are introduced in order to help you gain confidence in talking about your work to your peers and staff. It is also usually part of the assessment process at the end of each project. In Year 2 you are expected to give more formal presentations as part of each module. In Year 3 a formal presentation and Q&A session is part of the final assessment of your Major Project Outcome.

Exhibiting Work

In Years 1 & 2, the nature of exhibiting work varies in formality from corridor exhibitions to public venues. At the end of the third year of study, you have the opportunity to showcase of your work in public-facing exhibitions within the locality of Swansea, and at the prestigious national design show in London, New Designers.

Career Opportunities

After graduating, you can look forward to highly creative, exciting and diverse careers as:

• Product Designers
• Furniture Designers
• Engineering Designers
• Design Managers
• UX Designers
• CAD Designers

As well as learning about the product and furniture design practices, you will also pick up a variety of transferable skills that will give you a competitive advantage in whatever career path you choose to follow, such as:

• 2D Adobe CC software (Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign)
• 3D Autodesk Fusion 360 CAD software skills
• Time management
• Planning skills
• Research skills
• Design Thinking skills
• Workshop skills
• Organisational skills
• Analytical skills
• Presentation skills
• Negotiation skills
• Interview skills

Our alumni are working for some of the world’s established leading brands and design consultancies, such as:

• Lego
• Hasbro
• Panasonic
• Seymour Powell
• OrangeBox
• Adidas
• Native
• Culture Group
• Acumen
• Gurit
• Zodiac Aerospace
• Recaro
• Cerebra

Many of our graduates have set up their own consultancies, such as MeeCreative and Lunia 3D with great success. Other graduates have continued their educational development on postgraduate courses, training to become teachers [PGCE] or furthering their intellectual capacity studying at Master’s/Doctoral level at UWTSD and further afield.

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