Diploma of Product Design

Are you ready to build a career out of your passion for design and problem solving? This diploma will equip you with the skills and knowledge to bring products from conception to market.

We are the makers, the sketchers, the inventors, the experimenters, the idea generators, the thinkers and tinkerers. We are product designers.

This is your hands-on pathway to the world of design. This diploma allows you to imagine, explore and create objects that people will manufacture, buy, use and appreciate. You will gain the skills and experience you need to work in small or large design companies or as an independent designer.

Through your studies you will learn to create designs for consumer products, experiences and systems. You will present your ideas through a combination of skills in visual and verbal communication, 3D models and computer software.

The curriculum looks at all aspects of design, including:

• aesthetics
• technology
• ergonomics
• usability
• sustainability
• materials

You will learn cutting-edge product development techniques, starting from a project brief, and find solutions to design problems using the latest industry tools and practices. You'll become familiar with new consumer product development processes for a variety of products, resolving practical, manufacturing and sustainability/environmental issues.

You will also be involved in design projects with local and international manufacturing companies. Graduates have worked with companies such as Cocoon Republic (Victoria), Gundong ceramic manufacturers and Smiggle. You may also work on projects where design prototypes are manufactured in China and Malaysia.

As a product designer, you will work as part of a design or manufacturing team. Many designers also take on freelance work.

Your daily activities may include:

• meeting clients to discuss design briefs
• developing concept drawings of your ideas
• working with local and overseas engineers, designers, prototype makers and marketing staff
• using technology, production methods and various materials (such as textiles, wood, plastics and metal)
• working with manufactuers to create prototypes and new materials (for example, reconstituted leather, stone or sustainable plastics)

Graduates work as part of design teams for manufacturing organisations. They may work in areas including display and exhibition design, furniture, packaging, confectionery, toy design, automotive, engineering, electrical, set design and special effects.

Graduates have gone onto work for:

• Holden
• BMW
• Alessi
• Cocoon Republic
• Schiavello
• Tait furniture
• Yamaha Japan