Professional Practice in Industrial Product Design Education

Arman Design Creative Design Director and University Lecturer Hatice Armağan has been continuing to teach industrial design courses at Medipol University, Department of Industrial Design for 4 years. The comprehensive course covers design trends, new technology, materials and production methods with a focus on professional practice. Industrial design is a profession that establishes a relationship with objects produced by industrial methods and people. The product design process and paths to follow within the different stages of this process are at the core of the course.

Project sessions are enhanced with additional courses that are designed to extend the vision of the students. From art history to project management, ergonomics to material knowledge and economy to marketing, industrial design student can select from wide variety of courses throughout 4 years. Studio sessions constitute the basis of Industrial Design education. Therefore, it is important for professional designers to be included in the academic curriculum…

Experienced professional designers support the theoretical education in an efficient way. Instructors can guide the students with one-to-one experience on each stage of the project development process. Students get a few steps ahead in their future career when they experience the current developments and get a chance to practice with industry professionals from the first hand.

Students are expected to submit projects at the end of the studio sessions. Products developed within the scope of the course get ready to be presented from its ideation stage to prototyping. This process covers key concepts such as product identity, product family, technology and innovation, UX user experience, and interface design. Overall, the course provides the students with a deeper understanding of mechanism design, system design and conceptual design, human and product relationship, creative processes and functional design.

Industrial product design students prepare a semester project with the help of their lecturer as a mentor, beginning from sophomore year. The products that are developed during these studio sessions are processed and reported from the ideation to prototyping stage. At the end of the semester, students present their projects and each project gets evaluated by the jury. Throughout the process, students gain insight on the industry and experience the product development process. They are expected to reflect this knowledge on project and innovation management to their projects.

Expected future technologies and trends are examined within the scope of the course. Furthermore, predictions on future design problems in terms of user needs, materials and lifestyles are discussed and conceptual design solutions are created.

As the result of the profound observation of the user, “Product Design” constructively predicts alternative futures!

A designer or a design team either develop service, system, product or business model… It is crucial for prospective designers to understand the role of product design within the product development process. Industrial product design is a special profession that robots cannot replace in the future. In the industrial design courses, human-product, human-space and human-environmental relations are examined from a critical perspective. Students are expected select industrial design examples to define problems and create solutions through product analysis. Some steps in this regard:

1. The objective role of the user and finding the right solution.
2. Design for the future and creativity for alternative futures
3. Turning user needs into unique new experiences and market potentials
4. Working systematically with all stakeholders regarding supply, production, use, assembly, service etc.
5. Making our own forecasts and conducting user tests, instead relying on the planning and marketing team.

Starting from the freshman year, industrial design studio sessions cover the main concepts of product, system, service, experience design etc. Following the design projects, the students develop their skills on research methodology, three-dimensional thinking and creative problem solving. With other compulsory and elective courses, students practice free hand drawing, technical drawing, digital drawing and sketching techniques, digital modeling, model making, visual and verbal expression, learning-by-doing, analytical and conceptual thinking.

Arman Design and Medipol TTO Technology Transfer Office signed a protocol to ensure a much more efficient and long-term cooperation. Arman Design gives great importance to university-industry cooperation, pursues and increases such collaborations. The first cooperation of 2019 has been with Medipol University.

Cooperation encompasses;
• Scientific and technological research projects to be carried out with both parties,
• Utilization of funds for national and international project support programs
• Article and reports on joint projects and thesis
• Activities such as pairing up with industrialist-project-academician
• Routine experiments between the parties
• Consultancy for the company by the academic staff
• Internship opportunities for undergraduate students
• Mutual seminars, conferences and promotional activities.