Product Design Engineering - integrated with Placement Year

Product design engineering sits at the boundary between creative design and functional engineering, concerned with developing products and systems that are both well designed and technically sound. It is a discipline for people who want to do more than make things look good or make things that work: it asks how the two ambitions can be combined, so that products serve their users intelligently, are manufacturable at scale, perform reliably and are considered aesthetically. From consumer electronics and medical devices to furniture and transportation, the field encompasses an enormous range of applications.

At Brunel University London this integrated five-year programme includes a placement year, giving you a full year of industry experience alongside your academic qualification. You will develop your creative thinking and design process alongside the engineering analysis and technical knowledge needed to take products from concept through to manufacturable solutions. The curriculum spans design, materials, manufacturing processes, structural analysis and human factors, developing both the imaginative and the rigorous analytical dimensions of design engineering practice.

The programme is full time and runs with the placement year built in.

Product design engineers are employed by manufacturers, design consultancies, technology companies, medical device companies, automotive businesses and the consumer goods industry, in roles including product designer, design engineer, development engineer and research and development manager. The combination of aesthetic sensibility and engineering competence makes graduates well suited to roles that require design leadership alongside technical rigour. Postgraduate study in product design, engineering design, human-computer interaction or manufacturing systems is a route for those who want to develop specialist expertise or move into research and academic careers.