Product Design Course

The first year provides a segue for students to confidently enter the creative, open-ended, exploratory and experimental environment of design education at IIAD. You will acquire a broad spectrum of design skills and build your design vocabulary. After successfully completing the Foundation year, you will seamlessly progress to your chosen specialisation of Product Design.

You begin your journey in Product Design with a deep dive into the interaction between humans, objects and their environment. You probe into the interrelationship between form and function and understand aesthetic harmony, materiality and human factors. This exploration is further supported by a study of the history and evolution of products. Conceptual understanding is achieved through a strong foundation in practical exploration using field study, analytical drawing and model-making.

In Product Design, thinking and making are not sequential activities but work in tandem with each other; you will be spending substantial time in 3D workshops and digital labs to not just execute outcomes but also visualise possibilities by thinking through making. Visits to factories and fabrication units are integral to developing your understanding of materials, processes, tools and technology. You will work with a variety of organic materials, metals and plastics to translate ideas into tangible forms. Studying indigenous craft practices and working with artisans in their habitat will give you exposure to their material and non-material culture. This also helps develop sensitivity towards working in different environments and settings, which is integral to the practice of product design.

At the end of this year, learners have their first industry interface with an 8-week long “Learn On-Site” internship, which will focus on working hands-on in a makers’ space. You can opt to work with fabrication units and creative studios in sectors such as fashion & lifestyle, culture & heritage, art & architecture.

This year focusses on developing your understanding of the position and role of design within the wider context of a business or organisation. You advance your design abilities to deal with the complexities of multiple stakeholders, production, technological advancements, market realities and socio-cultural dynamics. Our emphasis on real-world design application and industry experience takes centre stage this year, through live projects as well as continuing fieldwork and visits to fabrication units.

You extend your knowledge and skills of materials and processes to understand finishing and precision, experiment with material fusion and combinations and integrate emerging technologies. You also learn methods to study user, consumer, brand and market. An understanding of markets and trends, as well as production and manufacturing, enables you to take holistic and nuanced design decisions. The year also provides an opportunity to address digital integration into physical products. Another highlight of this year is ethical and purposeful collaboration with indigenous craft practices and systems to apply design thinking in the realm of technology, market opportunities and value chain optimisation.

The 16-week “Learn On-site” internship is a long-term industry exposure envisaged as the gateway to the students’ professional debut. You will get an opportunity to work in an industry environment to understand the dynamics of a professional set-up, and how design fits into an organisational process. You can work in set-ups such as design & art studios, manufacturing units, brands, research & development labs. Some of the companies that product design students may work with are: Art’d’nox, Urban Ladder, Good Earth, Dastakar, Industree, Woodland Shoes, INTACH, Titan watches, Tanishq, etc.

The final year of the Product Design course focusses on learners arriving at their own individual design perspective and language and strengthening their professional abilities. With exposure to diverse areas within this versatile discipline, they are facilitated to identify their area of interest and pursue the same with growing independence. To round off your learning and development into industry-relevant, multi-faceted professionals, you add an understanding of marketing, merchandising and retail to your core competencies of design.

You also gain an awareness of the business of design, professional networking and entrepreneurship. Taking an immersive and holistic, research-based approach to design projects will lead you to evolve into ethical and purposeful design professionals. The final year creates an opportunity to explore and question the role and influence of design practice in the macro context of society and humanity. The Product Design course culminates with the Major Design Project, which gives the learner an opportunity to showcase their creativity, individual style and design process that is representative of their overall abilities as well as their chosen area of interest.

You will undertake a project set in the 21st century reality of their immediate environment; the project can be self-initiated or industry-sponsored. You will shape the overall project process and take design decisions independently while being closely mentored by faculty and industry experts. The project and year culminate in a professional design exhibition attended by eminent members of the creative community and industry.