Bachelor of Design at The University of Melbourne

The Bachelor of Design in Product Design prepares students for a career in the global product design industry. Students learn how to tackle complex problem solving, explore creative solutions, and develop realistic outcomes that could make a mark on the world.

UTS believes a hands-on approach is fundamental for every aspiring designer. As such, the student's starting point is the individual design and making of an object. Throughout their studies students learn how to design, prototype and test design solutions, drawing on cutting-edge technologies and approaches, such as UX (user experience), wearables and electronics and gain hands-on experience in the faculty's digital and fabrication workshops.

Alongside a strong technical base, the degree applies the creative problem-solving required to design experiences that make a difference to everyday life, whether in developing economies or digital cultures. Central to this approach is an understanding of the relationships between objects, culture, economy, technology, business and human behaviour.

This distinctive degree explores diverse forms of visual communication across design, culture and media. Visual communication students acquire in depth understanding of the histories, practices and meanings of the visual world. In turn, obtaining the visual knowledge and skills required to negotiate rapidly changing technology, visual media and culture while becoming skilled in apprehending the unprecedented pace at which visual images, visual technologies and information data are produced.

Students immerse themselves in a practice-oriented, studio-based culture, studying a range of interdisciplinary subjects encompassing typography, interaction and image-making. With access to a dedicated, fully-equipped studio space that brings the learning experience even closer to the realities of commercial practice. Taught by experts in visual communication, students learn everything from the history and theory of visual culture and technology to producing cutting edge creative work in digital media, interaction design, photography, editorial design, information visualisation, web design, wayfinding, mobile apps, code, machine learning, motion graphics, the internet of things and 3D technologies such as VR/AR and 3D printing. Exploring both traditional and experimental research methods students learn to produce conceptually rigorous and socially responsive work. They graduate with the capacity to work across and between disciplines, to articulate design practices and processes, and to apply them to complex problems. Graduates develop industry experience through the degree's emphasis on addressing real-world issues in collaborative and team-based work.