Consumer Product Design
Consumer Product Design is one of the most challenging engineering sectors as it targets demanding consumers who have high functional and aesthetic expectations of their products.
CPD has its origins in the traditional Mechanical Engineering discipline and has grown into a fully-fledged discipline since the 1960s when mass production of consumer goods became one of the major industrial activities. CPD focuses on the design of consumer goods and covers the entire product life cycle, except for the maintenance part. However, due to the present-day emphasis on environmental and sustainable issues, the life extension of products is becoming essential.
In this programme you will learn to design products which are both functional and attractive. To that end you will need to have a great affinity with Engineering. Next to Mechanics, other engineering fields are covered, such as Electrical Engineering. CPD-students must have an interest in the wider technical perspective, as aesthetics and ergonomics are blended with technical skills. Moreover, you must have good entrepreneurial skills to make a success of your product.
Programme
The programme consists of one semester study at HZ University of Applied Sciences that consists of the four following courses and a design project:
- Awesome shapes: the shape of a consumer product shouldn't only reveal its function. It should also have a strong appeal to the target group.
- Plastics are forever: in this course you will learn about the typical material characteristics of plastics, the production techniques and design opportunities.
- Nice and Safe: in this course ergonomics and ethics in technique will be studied.
- Smart and lasting: this course will cover subjects as Product Development and Marketing, Sustainable Product and Product Innovation.
Accreditation
The system of accreditation in higher education aims to guarantee that study programmes meet the highest standards. Consumer Product Design is a minor of our Mechanical Engineering programmes which is accredited and therefore listed in the Central Register of Higher Education Programmes (Croho).