Product Design BA Welcome Pack
Welcome to Product Design BA 2023.
Welcome to the Bachelor of Art (BA) Product Design course – I hope you’re looking forward to joining us soon.
We’ve a wide range of design projects, workshop activities, technical demonstrations and practical activities planned for you throughout your first year. To pack all this in, we run quite a full timetable from 10am to 4pm most days except for Wednesday afternoons, which is left free for social clubs and sporting activities.
To help you take your first steps as an undergraduate student we’re running an online session, on Wednesday 30 August at 11am, to introduce the programme and the staff team – see below for details. Plus, you’ll have a chance to meet some of the colleagues who’ll be joining you on the course and there’ll also be the opportunity for you to ask any questions you may have around:
- Timetables
- Reading lists
- Drawing equipment
- Hand-tools
- Laptops
So, put the date in your diary, enjoy the rest of the summer, and I’ll see you then…
Your Programme Leader
Paul Hines
Deputy Head of Art & Design
Paul.Hines@northampton.ac.uk
Welcome and Induction Session
To help you take your first steps as an undergraduate student we’re running a handy online session to support you:
Equipment
Product Design is a very practical, so you’ll need a range of drawing implements, tools, and workshop safety equipment to help you design and make throughout the course.
These items will be needed for your work in studios and workshops, as well as allowing you to continue your studies independently outside the studio.
We’ll be emailing a complete list of all the items you may need before you start, as well as running through the complete list during our online session.
A laptop is essential for allowing you to run personal (free/academic) versions of the computer-aided-design (CAD) software that you’ll need on the course.
You’ll benefit from a high-performance laptop in order to run the full suite of software available over your three years of study. The laptop provided in the free UON student laptop offer is not likely to provide the specifications required – but accommodation vouchers and campus credit are both offered as an alternative.
Please consider any laptop purchase carefully – the preferred laptop specifications are outlined in the FAQs on the following link: Product Design course page.
Enhancing skills, building networks and engaging in the wider University community
One of the many strengths in Product Design is our ‘live-client’ projects where we collaborate with local businesses and charitable organisations. These extra activities, often run as competitions, will enable you to apply the knowledge and skills acquired on the course and help towards building a professional design portfolio.
Projects are run on Wednesday mornings and are open to all Product Design students. We’re also hoping that other creative students, studying across the subject area of Art & Design, will join in as well.
Over the last few years, we’ve worked with the following organisations:
- Tingdene Homes – reduction and reuse of post-industrial waste
- Berry CPI – ‘zero-waste’ in-store refills to replace single use packaging
- Sue Ryder – upcycling of unused pallets into garden products
- Rockingham Forest Trust – contemplation zones and public seating.
We’re already planning the next project and I’m looking forward to introducing the brief this autumn.