Product Design
Product Design
MSc – 1 year (full-time) or 2 years (part-time)
This course is at the forefront of production design and manufacturing practices and brings together students from creative and technical backgrounds, to foster original approaches to product design for manufacture. It supports you to explore and develop personal design methodologies and philosophies, and locate these within a deep understanding of historical, contemporary and future design practices, and wider social and cultural contexts.
You will undertake core units, delivered by production design specialists, consisting of design theory and practice lectures, material and manufacturing workshops, group seminars, individual tutorials, live external projects, and research study trips. Practical design development is supported by extensive hand and machine workshops for wood, metal, ceramics, glass and plastics, and digital workshops for laser cutting and large scale CNC routing.
Optional units facilitate innovative cross-disciplinary opportunities, supporting the development of collaborative working with students from across the wider postgraduate design community.
You will able to explore and challenge all aspects of product design, embracing opportunities for innovation across markets and production levels, from one-off making and batch fabrication, to flexible digital manufacture and high volume industrial production.
Your programme of study is managed through personal learning plans, developed in response to your individual creative and professional ambitions. The final Synthesis unit determines the postgraduate award, with the MSc reflecting work that has a more technically and functionally innovative focus, and the MA for work that addresses more materially creative or culturally focussed agendas.
Features
- —While studying towards a particular qualification at MA/MSc level, students experience their subject in the broader context of contemporary design practice.
- —Dedicated spaces for the postgraduate community have been developed to enable the postgraduate community to flourish. These spaces, for thinking and practice, are based in the heart of Manchester School of Art, allowing easy access to an extensive range of workshops where the combination of traditional and state of the art equipment opens up a world of exciting possibilities.
- —You will be taught by research active staff who are part of the Manchester School of Art Research Centre and experts in their field.
- —The University library has outstanding Art and Design holdings, including a special collection of artist's books and ephemera.
Ye Yuan, a Product Design graduate who tells stories through is creations, discusses his time at Manchester School of Art, his move to Manchester and how the city’s inspired him.
Course Content
Year 1 (MA Full-Time)
The MA/MSc in Product Design is composed of four core units plus one option unit, totalling 180 credits.
Design Thinking
This unit introduces an applied understanding of how design can be used as an iterative process for creative problem solving. It will enable you to understand how to apply design thinking processes to your specialist area through understanding users, challenging assumptions, redefining problems and creating innovative solutions to prototype and test. The unit will also provide a broad introduction to research methodologies, strategic research planning and research design. A range of design thinking tools will be introduced and explored before you undertake an in-depth project that provides opportunities for experimentation leading to innovative solutions.
Researching, Mapping and Locating
This unit will enable you to gain an understanding of design practices, perspectives and contexts. You will establish a substantive individual position for personal practice within the expanded field of design. During the unit you will work towards the production of a project proposal which will determine the ongoing research, mapping and locating of your position within contemporary design practice.
Colour, Material & Finish
This unit will enable you to explore the language of material making, process and enquiry. Briefs will stimulate you to generate a range of practice-based responses to questions of context, concept, making, manufacturing, materiality, visual language and sustainability.
Synthesis Project: Product Design (MA)
The final synthesis MA unit will support you to develop, resolve and present a significant body of work, located within a defined area of product design practice. The unit accommodates opportunities for external collaborative, industry based or international learning experiences, and enables you to undertake and submit work developed within professional placements and/or live projects.
The unit synthesises the specialist product design practice you have developed throughout the programme. It also accommodates the opportunity to present your work in progress and to engage in interdisciplinary critiques to test ideas, gain feedback and support the development of your final body of work.
The content of your practice is negotiated with specialist product design staff and you will manage your learning via the development of a Synthesis project proposal. The unit features a flexible assessment submission process which combines written and practical elements, the weighting of which being responsive and appropriate to your individual future ambitions, be they professionally or academically focussed.
Synthesis Project: Product Design (MSc)
This final MSc unit will support you to develop and resolve a significant body of specialist product design practice. Your learning journey will be synthesised by the presentation of an innovatively ambitious project, located within a defined area of technical, market orientated or advanced digital product design.
The unit accommodates opportunities for external collaborative, industry based or international learning experiences and enables you to undertake and submit work developed within professional placements and/or live projects. The unit features a presentation of your work in progress to test ideas, gain feedback and to engage in interdisciplinary critique to support the development of your final body of work.
The content of your practice is negotiated with specialist product design staff and you will manage your learning via the development of a Synthesis project proposal. The unit features a flexible assessment submission process which combines written and practical elements, the weighting of which being responsive and appropriate to your individual future ambitions, be they professionally or academically focussed.
Resources
We have developed a dedicated postgraduate area occupying an entire floor of the main School of Art building, offering an exciting space to be, both intellectually and practically. The centre is located in the Chatham Tower with studios, design laboratories, seminar rooms and extensive workshops that form the nucleus of this vibrant, cross-disciplinary learning environment.
Find out more about Manchester School of Art's facilities.
Student Work
Visit our online MA Show galleries to see examples of recent work by our postgraduate students.
Graduates
Graduates will develop skills suitable for employment in design, and design management roles, in manufacturing and consultancy. Skills in research and contemporary design philosophies also lead to opportunities for roles in academic research and teaching.
The programme also prepares graduates for self-employment routes – developing business knowledge in support of the challenges inherent in establishing and running your own product design and manufacturing business.
Making an Application
Entry Requirements
A minimum of 2:1 Honours degree is required, completed within five years of the postgraduate course application.
Equivalent EU/international qualifications are also accepted.
Applicants who do not meet these criteria will be considered on a case-by-case basis. Other professional qualifications or degree disciplines will be considered on merit and/or with relevant professional experience.
We require the submission of a digital portfolio to evidence design practice and research, and may request an interview as part of the application process.
Overseas applicants will require IELTS with an overall score of 6.5 with no less than 5.5 in any category, or an equivalent accepted English qualification.
How to Apply
Please apply online using the link below.
Fees 2024 Entry
The fees for 2024 entry are still to be confirmed.
Eligible alumni receive a 20% discount on their postgraduate tuition fees. Find out more about our Alumni Loyalty Discount.
Course Leader
- David Grimshaw
Deputy Head of Design
Subject Lead MA/MSc Product Design & MA/MSc Craft
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