Design is a thinking act and the MSc IPD course educates thinking designers.ÊIn an increasingly technologically complex world in which the interpretation of data and information is as least as important as the capacity for original imaginative ideas, designers are expected to be masters of creativity, communication and collaboration.
They must understand the processes of innovation, problem solving and strategic decision making. They must understand how to research, to embrace change, to tolerate uncertainty and unpredictability. They must recognise the role and influence of cultural difference and they must understand the needs of the end-user, manufacturers and of the environment in which we must all live.
The Industrial Product Design programme offered by the Coventry University aims to prepare you for global industrial product design careers, enhancing your research and technical skills, together with your critical and creative thinking abilities. We adopt a user-centred, interdisciplinary approach covering areas such as branding, the social impact of design, design management, design innovation, design technology and global design issues.
Structured around the three themes ofÊcommunication, collaboration and creativity, we focus on the design of products that interface directly with people and are manufactured through methods of mass production. Within competitive markets, the ability to interpret and manage ÔuserÕ perception and expectations is just as important within the overall design process as the functional, operational and production considerations.Ê
Career prospects
This course will develop your ability to design products with significant engineering or technological content to optimise solutions for specific consumer and professional markets and develop products which delight end users.
It is designed to prepare you for leadership and decision-making positions within product design agencies, manufacturing companies, design consultancies, research and development departments, research institutions and government bodies. Specific careers might include acting as a design team leader, design project manager, design researcher and design policy maker. You may even decide to develop your own business.
Professional enhancement is central to our ethos which is why we encourage collaboration with industry practitioners and work on ÔliveÕ project briefs. In addition to this, students undertake a compulsory 10-credit module accredited by the Chartered Management Institute which provides them with an internationally recognised certificate of qualification. Upon completion of the final major project the students take part in a degree show.
Our Creative Futures employment team is on hand to offer tailored career and enterprise support if you wish to gain employment or take advantage of professional practice opportunities within course specific industries. It provides specialist careers information, advice and guidance to all our students from their first year through to final year and beyond graduation, helping them achieve their desired career outcome. Our dedicated enterprise officers also offer valuable assistance on how to begin as a freelancer/entrepreneur.
