This one-year taught course is primarily aimed at design graduates who wish to enhance their skills and knowledge of cutting edge product design practice.Ê

The M.Sc. in Product Design at Cardiff Metropolitan University aims to produce successful individuals who can:

  • Understand the whole of the professional design development process and how the initial phases flow to inform the latter stages.Ê
  • Appreciate commercial realities and the designerÕs role in business.Ê
  • Design desirable products for bespoke, batch or mass manufacture.Ê
  • Understand sustainability, inclusively, and other important ethical and social issues that must be considered by todayÕs designers.Ê
  • Have traditional design skills such as sketching, dealing with form, communication and innovation.Ê
  • Are able to use design tools such as 3D CAD, CAM and rapid prototyping in order to optimise the design and reduce time to market.Ê

Cardiff School of Art & Design and the National Centre for Product Design & Development Research have pooled their substantial design and manufacturing expertise to produce this unique course that will equip students with an advanced knowledge of the techniques, technologies and tools being used by todayÕs designers.

The Cardiff School of Art & Design have substantial expertise in the delivery of courses at the interface of engineering and product design whilst the National Centre for Product Design & Development Research is one of the UKÕs leading centres for rapid product design & development whose expertise covers the whole process from design management, concept and detailed design, ergonomics and CAD to prototyping, tooling and batch manufacture.

Employability & Careers:

The course is principally aimed at enabling students to develop their careers in the world of professional product design and development.Ê A key advantage in achieving this aim is the industrial placement module. All students are given assistance in gaining a suitable placement either in industry or within the National Centre for Product Design and development Research (PDR) which is located on the university campus.Ê

On completion of the course, graduates may expect to find employment in design consultancies or manufacturing companies anywhere in the world.Ê

Your year(s) of study with us enable you to develop professional contacts, observe how successful practitioners make their living, and hone your skills and ideas for commercial and professional advantage. Such cross-disciplinary collaborations prepare you for a world where you will inevitably work with people from all walks of life. Your live projects and assessments will get you accustomed to the importance of deadlines and working to specific briefs and tight specifications.

Over the next few years, CSAD will be developing opportunities for incubation of business proposals from its graduates and postgraduate training to get business opportunities up and running.