Â鶹AV

International requirements and visas

We can help you meet our English language or academic entry requirements.

Visas and immigration advice

Portfolio advice

Before we make you an offer for a place on this course, we will ask to see a portfolio of your work. Sharing your work enables us to see your potential and to understand your approach and motivations.

After you apply we will be in touch asking you to share the link to your online portfolio. You'll be asked to upload the link to .

• Find out about the specific requirements for your course.

Creating your portfolio
We've put together advice and guidance to help you create and share your portfolio, and we run regular online portfolio advice sessions where you can get help from our expert team.

Why choose Â鶹AV?

• Work alongside others in a friendly, creative and collaborative studio environment. 
• Develop your practical experience alongside theoretical knowledge, from placement opportunities to taking part in competitions and projects supported by industry such as the Fixperts project in the Design Practice: Inclusive Design module.
• Bring your ideas to life in our workshops and prototyping labs equipped with the latest industry tools and technologies including 3D printers, CNC machines, VR and robotics.
• Learn from our expert staff with a range of specialisms and excellent industry contacts, as well as visiting professionals, and gain a real grounding for a career that fuses creativity, science, technology and innovation.
• Accredited by the Institution of Engineering Designers.

Year 1

In your first year you take four core modules that build on each other as they become more specialised in the four areas. The first part of the year introduces you to the fundamental elements of product design, developing your skills in making, thinking and evaluation. Later in the year you’ll be introduced to more complex design issues and skills including digital prototyping and manufacture, and inclusive design, and human factors, such as engaging with a global community of design innovators through Fixperts.

Modules

• Design Practice: Creativity, Prototyping and Communication

  This module introduces you to product design knowledge, skills and abilities. You will explore 2D, 3D and digital skills as well as the workshop facilities and making practices and skills that will help develop your understanding of prototyping, and design for manufacture. You'll also find out about design methods, approaches and ways of thinking that will enable you to better understand ways in which designers research, develop and communicate ideas.

• Design Cultures: Histories and Theories

  This module is the first Design Cultures module which introduces the designers, global design styles and movements that have helped to shape the world we live in and the way we design today. You'll develop analytical skills such as critical thinking that will allow you to understand design more fully and become a better designer. You'll explore the importance of history and geography, including the legacies of power that have shaped it as a practice, as material culture and a body of knowledge. You'll learn from a diverse range of sources enabling you to challenge the dominant narratives and approaches that you encounter.

• Design Practice: Inclusive Design

  Work with other students to create ingenious solutions to an everyday problem for a real person. Your group will research, develop, test and propose viable human-centred design solutions using research methods, creative techniques, prototyping and testing methods, communication and storytelling techniques. Alongside the group work you will enhance your 2D, 3D and digital skills, building on your ability to design and present using CAD and supporting your ability to record and communicate using film-making and editing. You'll also learn methods and approaches that support  effective group working.

• Design Technologies: Digital Manufacturing

  This module introduces you to digital fabrication principles, methods and tools which are explored and applied in a practical way through a series of mini design exercises followed by a 'stretch' exercise enabling you to apply what you have learned in an area that interests you. Students can make a variety of prototypes using CAD/CAM, 3D printing and scanning, electronics design and production, and wired and wireless communications. Your learning will be practical and hands-on, and you'll explore how to use the tools, equipment and machines developing your understanding the theory of how they work along with a critical evaluation of their applications.

Making sure that what you learn with us is relevant, up to date and what employers are looking for is our priority, so courses are reviewed and enhanced on an ongoing basis. When you have applied to us, you’ll be told about any new developments through .

Year 2

In your second year you develop products for a real market, including learning how to use different technologies to create prototypes as you build your understanding of the commercial side of product development. You also consider challenging global issues and how everyday practices connect with long-term consequences and become familiar with frameworks to help guide design decisions and ambitions. During this year you also explore contemporary issues in design and begin to identify paths you want to follow in terms of practice and further study.

Modules

• Design Technologies: Interactions and Experiences

  In this module you will explore technologies that enable the development, prototyping and functionality of interactive objects. Exploring and experimenting with technologies that allow objects to behave intelligently, to react to stimulus, to connect to the internet and other devices. You will further develop a practical and theoretical understanding in assessing design development technology in an ethical and responsible way. 

• Design Practice: Design to Market

  In this module you will develop designs for, prototype and make affordable and useful products that can be produced in batches using accessible materials and processes. You'll learn how to apply principles of design for manufacturing and assembly, to consider approaches to sustainable design and to calculate the production cost of and sales price of a product. You will develop abilities to identify and communicate the benefits, features and functions of a product to a wide audience. 

• Design Cultures: Contemporary Issues in Design

  This module is the second Design Cultures module which increases the breadth and range of your knowledge around design and its cultural context. It develops the critical thinking skills that enable deeper understanding of the practice and theory of design as a social and culturally embedded practice, combined with enhanced communication skills allowing improved expression and application of your own analysis and ideas. You will also develop a personal research project in preparation for Level 6. 

• Design Practice: Responsible Design

  In this module you will build on your understanding of responsible design, using projects and activities to explore concepts of regenerative design, design for the circular economy and disruptive design as systemic approaches to addressing global challenges. You will expand your understanding of the design process to take on more systemic approaches to design and develop your ability to identify suitable design project themes and design opportunities. 

Placement 

A placement year gives you the opportunity to gain professional experience either through external work placements with industry partners or working on live projects. An alternative to professional placement is offered through the study abroad initiative which provides you with the opportunity to study with a partner university overseas. 

These experiences help to strengthen your portfolio and give you a competitive edge in the job market.

Graduating award

If you undertake and pass your placement year, your experience will be reflected in the degree that you graduate with – Product Design with Professional Experience BSc(Hons).

George Gilliat did his placement with Lego in Denmark -

Final year

Projects at the beginning of your final year help you to define your design specialism by allowing you to focus on your professional ambitions. Alongside this you undertake your dissertation, the knowledge you uncover as part of your research can also be used to support your design practice. 

In the second part of the year you undertake a single self-directed major project that integrates your learning across both the Design Practice and Design Technologies modules. Your final project embodies the values, principles, skills and experience you have developed during your studies into well-resolved clearly communicated design outcomes.

Modules

• Design Practice: Professional Practices

  In this module you will work on design briefs helping your development as a design practitioner. Through self-directed study and tutorial support you will build specialist knowledge and skills that are relevant to your design interests, values, principles and career ambitions. The work you undertake will help you develop your abilities to combine research, development and validation in the creation of coherent design outcomes and proposals. 

• Design Cultures: Dissertation

  In this module you will undertake a dissertation based on research into a subject, theme or issue within the field of design which is of particular interest to you. This will allow you to consolidate the learning you have done in the past two years and investigate one area in detail. Through self-directed investigative research and writing you will gain in-depth knowledge and establish a critically reflective position on your chosen subject.

• Design Technologies: Self-directed Project

  The project is where you'll refine the skills that enable you to independently prototype ideas, evaluate performance and present your ideas in context. You will apply research skills to acquire the knowledge and understanding that will enable you to make optimal technological choices. This will aid you in resolving the design of products/services in relation to their specification, functionality, manufacture and feasibility. 

• Design Practice: Self-directed Project

  This module will advance your ability to independently manage a complete design project by setting project goals and managing time, relationships, risks and resources. You will strategically apply appropriate research and creative methods, design strategies, technical knowledge and skills in generating and developing well-considered novel ideas and proposals in response to complex design challenges.

Kyle Withey won first prize at the 2023 Â鶹AV Ideas Competition for his idea for a new type of 3D printer.

Facilities 

You have access to our specialist facilities equipped with the latest industry tools and technologies as well as our creative, collaborative studio space.

Technicians are on hand to offer expert guidance on the use of all facilities. They offer support and training with machinery and software as well as providing professional knowledge and advice for making and manufacturing your prototypes.

Workshops and equipment include:

• 3D print workspace with a range of different printers and finishing areas
• CNC workshop with a five-axis CNC machine
• VR lab
• Robotics lab
• Wood workshop
• Metal and welding workshop
• Finishing room equipped with spray booths
• Wind tunnel
• Computer facilities with industry standard software including Photoshop, Illustrator and SolidWorks

360 facilities tour
Take a look at our studio and workshop facilities 

Meet the team

Course fees

If you choose to take the professional placement (sandwich) year offered on this course you will pay a reduced fee during this year. Our fee for the professional placement year is £1,500 for UK students and £1,850 for international students. This fee may be subject to small increases, in line with inflation.

The fees listed here are for the first year of full-time study if you start your course in the academic year 2025–26.

You will pay fees for each year of your course. Some fees may increase each year.

UK undergraduate and some postgraduate fees are regulated by the UK government and increases will not be more than the maximum amount allowed. Course fees that are not regulated may increase each year by up to 5% or RPI (whichever is higher).

If you are studying part-time your fee will usually be calculated based on the number of modules that you take.

Find out more

• Â鶹AV Boost – cost of living help for our new undergrad students. Find out about how we can help with your study, accommodation or travel costs and more...
• Fees, bursaries, scholarships and government funding info for UK and international undergraduate students
• Student finance and budgeting while studying
• Read our student contract and (pdf) for more on Â鶹AV tuition fees.

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