Product Design

Product design is the discipline that turns ideas into objects and experiences. It sits at the intersection of creativity and engineering, asking how products can be made not just to work but to work well for the people who use them, to be sustainable in their materials and production, and to communicate meaning through their form and aesthetics. Good product design requires you to think simultaneously about function, usability, production, and cultural significance, and to translate that thinking into physical and digital prototypes that can be tested, refined, and eventually manufactured.

At Edinburgh Napier University, this four-year full-time programme includes a year abroad, which is a valuable and distinctive feature. Studying product design in another country exposes you to different design cultures, manufacturing traditions, and aesthetic sensibilities, deepening your comparative understanding of the discipline and strengthening your independence as a creative professional. Throughout the programme, you will develop skills in design thinking, sketching and visual communication, CAD modelling, materials science, manufacturing processes, and user research.

You will work through a series of design projects that take you from initial brief through research, concept development, prototyping, and evaluation, building a portfolio of work that demonstrates your capabilities to graduate employers.

Edinburgh Napier has strong connections with Scottish and UK design industries, and the programme benefits from a practical, professional orientation alongside the creative and intellectual dimensions of design education.

Product designers work in manufacturing companies, design consultancies, technology firms, furniture and interiors businesses, the medical device industry, transport design, and consumer goods. The combination of creative and technical skills, together with international experience gained through the year abroad, makes Napier graduates competitive in a field where an ability to work across cultures and disciplines is increasingly valued. Postgraduate study in product design, industrial design, or design innovation is also a route taken by some graduates.