Three Dimensional (3D) Design: Idea Material Object

Course structure

The course will take you on a journey where the goal is to develop your own individual area of practice – you may ultimately choose to focus on a specific material, explore processes or you may continue with a variety of approaches combining multiple materials and techniques. The focus throughout your journey will be to evolve existing processes and develop an original and personal approach that will cement your direction as an independent thinker in design.

Although it is not necessary to know precisely what you’d like to do when you leave, a passion to find out is vital.

Outcomes will encompass one-off craft artefacts and bespoke solutions through to batch produced objects, across areas such as lighting, tableware, furniture and product; domestic and commercial, interior and exterior. The approach of the course is broad and takes into account the innumerable professional outputs where creative thinking will give you a competitive edge in today’s market.

Expanding digital cultures and new types of craft production/consumption require a new type of thinking about the role of designer and maker. You will learn to make use of web enabled collaboration, manufacture, and distribution, to balance the needs of the consumer with the wider issues of ecology and sustainability, poetry and politics. Studio based modules are supported with studies on critical and historical contexts for craft and design, whilst visiting lecturers provide valuable industry perspectives and an insight into contemporary practice.

Year 1 will develop your creative instincts through exploration of the qualities of different materials and making processes, including methods of digital manufacture. Through drawing, photography, experimentation with materials and exploration of computer based processes you will begin to identify your own individual area of practice – creating new ideas and concepts both drawn and made. The first year provides you with a foundation of skills not only in making but also in thinking, brief writing and laying the foundation for asking questions that you answer with the objects you create.

Year 2 will expand your personal making practice and introduce collaborative and live projects with external partners or design businesses and students are supported to undertake work experience and placements. You will also be introduced to marketing and promotional skills, including building narratives in your work and exploring outcomes through photography, publishing, exhibiting and web presence.

Year 3 will further define your own area of practice, audience and market, perhaps as a specialist maker, or utilising outsourced production and assembly techniques to develop your work. You will be producing a body of physical artefacts alongside a combination of visual and written work. We expect your final project work to be at a professional level, and you will be encouraged and supported to display at national and international design show venues.

Throughout the course you will explore the subject’s contextual framework through Historical and Critical Studies modules and gain industry awareness through Professional Context modules. The programme will engage with creative and industry partners to offer ‘Live’ projects and open up opportunities to experience a professional working atmosphere in a safe environment. Your study will be augmented by trips to cultural establishments both nationally and internationally and exchange schemes are planned with institutes around the world.

Course assessment

By exhibition, written papers and live presentations. There are no written exams