PRODUCT AND TRANSPORT DESIGN
MAKE YOUR MARK IN
PRODUCT OR TRANSPORT DESIGN Great design doesn’t happen by chance. It stems from truly understanding the customer, recognising their needs, fully appreciating the importance of aesthetic quality… not-to-mention having the skills to create a solution that reflects innovative thinking and embraces the most appropriate materials. In short? A solution that can often be incredibly simple, yet is never less than inspiring. We encounter Product Design and Transport Design every day of our lives, from the furniture we sit on and the appliances we use, to the cars we drive and the buses and trains we hop on. Best of all, if you’d like a career in either of these fields, Staffordshire University has just the degree for you. Run by industry-experienced lecturers, our exciting courses will equip you to work in either consumer product or automotive design. Both courses will prepare you for employment in design consultancies or manufacturing companies. While, as several of our
Dan Lewis, Award Leader BA (Hons) Product Design and BA (Hons) Transport Design
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students have already demonstrated, the entrepreneurial skills you’ll gain on your way to becoming a Staffordshire University graduate will be invaluable if you decide to freelance, or start-up your own design business. As a mark of the quality of our degrees, our graduates are highly sought after across the design industry. In fact, they go on to secure careers worldwide. You’ll find them designing everything from cars to game peripherals, from gym equipment to furniture and from toys to lighting. The companies they work for include Ford, BMW, Leyland Trucks, Evoke Interactive, Pulse Fitness, Exspect, Westbridge Furniture, Collcap Packaging, Maserati, New Balance, Debenhams and leading consultancies, such as Haughton Design. Over the following pages, and at www.staffs.ac.uk/design, you can find out more about our courses in Product Design and Transport Design and why we believe we’re the right choice for you.
WHICH COURSE IS FOR YOU? BA (Hons) PRODUCT DESIGN
Take a look at this course if you see yourself designing everything from toys, lighting and furniture to household goods and consumer technology.
BA (Hons) TRANSPORT DESIGN
This course could be for you if you’d like to design anything from that next awe-inspiring sports car to that eco-friendly bus, beautifully compact city car or cutting-edge mountain bike.
BA (Hons) PRODUCT DESIGN UCAS code: W240
BA (Hons) TRANSPORT DESIGN UCAS code: W293
CONTENTS: 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 15
Discover more: www.staffs.ac.uk/undergraduate
t: 01782 294400
Introduction Key Facts Why Staffs? Our Brilliant People A Better Campus Choose More Open Days Application Process
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HERE ARE JUST A FEW REASONS WHY WE BELIEVE YOU SHOULD STUDY WITH US. TO REALLY FIND OUT IF WE’RE RIGHT FOR YOU, PLEASE COME ALONG TO ONE OF OUR OPEN DAYS. WE’D LOVE TO MEET YOU.
KEY FACTS WORK-READY WORLD-READY
Study with us and we’ll equip you to become ‘The Staffordshire Graduate’ – a world-ready professional, with the knowledge, attributes and expertise that employers look for.
WORLD OF WORK FACILITIES
Our aim is to prepare you for success in the world of Product Design or Transport Design. That’s why our facilities reflect those of real design companies – all so you’ll be ready to hit the ground running when you graduate.
NSPIRED TEACHING
We’ll introduce you to a variety of teaching and learning techniques, including studio work, individual and team design workshops, tutorials and more. Our studio facilities, clay workshops and CAD suites mirror those in professional design consultancies – all to give you a head start in the job market.
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WORK ON LIVE PROJECTS
Our strong links with industry mean the chance to work on ‘live’ design projects. These projects can lead to work placements, prizes and full-time positions after graduation.
FIRST CLASS SUPPORT LEARN FROM THE EXPERTS
Our teaching team has worked on everything from toys and trucks to luxury cars. The big name companies they’ve assisted include: Bentley, Jaguar, Styling International, Raffo & Pape and Pulse Fitness.
Take it as read: we’ll be there to support you. With our open plan studio and small class sizes, you’ll always be able to get all the help, advice and guidance you need.
NEW YORK CITY!
We want you to experience a world of product design. That’s why we’ll give you the chance to visit consultancies not just in the UK, but in New York City. In 2015, we visited SMART, Echo, Rockwell and IDEO, where students from our first, second and third years got to see what goes on inside busy Manhattan agencies!
SHOWCASE YOUR TALENT
In your final year, you’ll get to display your work in our Degree Show, as well as in London at the prestigious New Designers exhibition – all to give you as much exposure to employers as possible.
GAIN GREAT SKILLS
Both our Product Design and Transport Design degrees will equip you with essential creative, practical and personal skills, including CAD, sketching, model-making and presenting. You’ll also advance your knowledge of ergonomics, design history, materials and design management, to give you a competitive edge.
BIG BRAND GRADUATE SUCCESSES
You’ll find our graduates working around the globe, for a wide range of companies, such as: Ford, Scott Sports, Thinkable Studios, BMW, Russell Hobbs, New Balance and Maserati.
Discover more: www.staffs.ac.uk/undergraduate
t: 01782 294400
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WHY STAFFS? Taught by design industry professionals, our Product Design and Transport Design courses are centred on the end user, with clear emphasis on both the development of ideas and creativity. As a result, graduates from both courses have an edge in the job market and are qualified to enjoy a whole world of exciting opportunities.
LEADING INDUSTRY EXPERTS Study with us and you’ll learn your skills from leading industry experts. Our teaching team has worked on everything from toys to trucks and cars to kettles, for organisations including Bentley, Jaguar, Styling International, Raffo & Pape, ArmourHome and more. We’ll always encourage you to be innovative and free-thinking – even when you’re working within the constraints of an industry brief.
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MIRRORING THE WORKPLACE
PARTNERING YOU WITH INDUSTRY
To really give you a feel for what it’s like to work in the sector, our facilities reflect those you’ll find in professional design companies. Most of the time, you’ll work in our large, well-equipped studio, which is designed to represent a real consultancy. Here, you’ll have access to excellent computer facilities, industry-standard software (such as Autodesk Alias and Maya, Solidworks and the Adobe Creative Suite), as well as our 3D workshops, where you’ll be able to use laser cutters and rapid prototyping tools. We also have two clay modelling rooms where you’ll be able to realise your designs in 3D.
To improve your understanding of the design industry (and to increase your employability), we’ve forged strong links with companies nationwide who run ‘live’ projects with us. Taking part in these challenges will give you a valuable insight into real-life work practices and expectations – and help you build up important contacts for the future. Recent projects have come from Land Rover, Michelin, Evoke Interactive and Exspect.
STUDENT SUPPORT Because our class sizes are small, you’ll receive excellent support and guidance, as well as benefit from close contact with visiting industry lecturers. We often see students on a one-to-one basis. Plus we make use of social networking, email and online forums to make it as easy as possible for you to get in touch with us. Our open plan studio also means you can get help and advice from students in different years.
GAIN NATIONAL EXPOSURE After our Degree Show, you’ll have the opportunity to exhibit at the UK’s leading graduate design show, New Designers, in London. This national exposure has led to graduates winning prizes, gaining paid work placements, being offered freelance work and securing full-time employment. And the exposure doesn’t end there! We’ll also encourage you to enter national and international design competitions, adding to our success stories, which already include three finalists in the Lighting Association’s prestigious Student Design Awards.
Discover more: www.staffs.ac.uk/undergraduate
t: 01782 294400
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OUR BRILLIANT PEOPLE ... WORKING LIKE A PROFESSIONAL FROM DAY ONE.
Dan Lewis is the Award Leader of our Product and Transport Design courses and continues to develop these to mirror industry practice. Dan continues to work on his own freelance projects, and has years of industry experience, developing products with some of the UK’s largest retailers, travelling extensively across Europe and the Far East. Dan also heads up Fibre, our in-house Product Design consultancy. Fibre offers consultancy services to industry both in the UK and internationally using the talent of our graduates. Fibre assigns our graduates to relevant design projects, on a freelance basis where their raw creative talent, along with the experience of our academics produces high quality, competitively priced work. The vision is to have a full-time team of graduates working on design projects within the University, which can ultimately be fed back into our courses and teaching.
“The instant attraction to studying Transport Design at Staffordshire University was the close links and contact with current designers and clay & CAD modellers working for large car manufacturers. This enabled me to work like a professional designer from the very first day, something that I am very grateful for. The experience has helped me settle in and adapt to my current place of work, Thinkable Studio. Without my time at Staffordshire University, I think finding a job would have been very difficult; but by applying everything I was taught, and the advice given to me, I was fortunate enough to have an employer approach me!” John Bridge, BA (Hons) Transport Design – recent graduate and now working at Maserati in Turin
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“Working with Michelin was a great opportunity to collaborate with a client and see how they work. It was also really useful to get feedback on our designs right from day one. The studio and workshops also give us chance to work alongside the other year groups and share ideas. I would totally recommend this course; I visited a number of other universities, but Staffordshire was really attractive because of the small class sizes; you really do get a lot of one-to-one contact with both the lecturers and clients. I also enjoyed learning new computer programs such as Maya and Adobe Illustrator, and having designers from industry in every week was excellent.” Linzi Spiers 3rd year BA (Hons) Product Design student
“The Product Design course at Staffs was great fun and invaluable. With no creative boundaries, I was encouraged to be as conceptual as possible. It was really encouraging to see my skill set continually improve through tutorials from both the teaching team and visiting lecturers from the creative industries. In the third year, I focused more on tangible design, and worked concept designs to fully-fledged projects that were ready for production. Looking back at my first year projects, I can clearly see how I improved and became more professional over time. I would recommend Staffordshire University as, at the end of the course, I had a lot to offer a prospective employer. I started work in the industry straight after graduation and now work as a product designer for Evoke Interactive. It’s such a buzz seeing your products come to life and out and onto the high street.” Ben Jones BA (Hons) Product Design – graduated in 2012, and now working as a product designer with leading interactive kiosk solutions company, Evoke Interactive
Discover more: www.staffs.ac.uk/undergraduate
t: 01782 294400
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A BETTER CAMPUS
AT STAFFORDSHIRE UNIVERSITY, WE’RE COMMITTED TO INVESTING IN YOUR FUTURE – LITERALLY. OVER A PERIOD OF 18 MONTHS, WE’RE SPENDING MILLIONS OF POUNDS ON OUR UNIVERSITY CAMPUSES, SO WHEN YOU JOIN US, YOU’LL BE COMING TO A PLACE WITH EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO START OPENING DOORS AND BREAKING BOUNDARIES.
In recent years, our Stoke-on-Trent campus has undergone a massive transformation, with the students at the heart of our plans. From the amazing Science Centre to environmental improvements, we’re focused on building the best campus for our students. But whilst it’s all well and good a university saying they care what students think, we’re putting our money where our mouth is. This all stems from a decision to make Stoke-on-Trent the main campus of Staffordshire University. In 2016 the majority of students from our Stafford Computing and Technology courses will be
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moving to the Stoke-on-Trent campus. So we’re making sure that when you arrive, you enter a university that is fit for purpose. One with a great mix of study and social spaces. One that feels safe and thrives on the friendly reputation we’ve built. What we found was that a modern edge-of-city campus is ideal. Close enough to the city for the social life, but far enough away to focus on studying. Great transport links around the city, but also great spaces around the campus. The best of both worlds. So, starting in Summer 2015, we’ll be working on the College Road and Leek Road sites of our Stoke Campus. We’ll be creating great social spaces and easy access between the Students’ Union, venues and teaching rooms. Bringing the best teaching facilities together with fantastic student areas – making it feel safe and easy to jump between your lectures and your life outside University. As well as that, we’re also investing £12m in a new Computing and Games facility. This project, called Digital Kiln, will merge beautiful learning space with state-of-theart technology to support all sorts of courses from Cyber Security to Games Design.
This investment is continuing the work we’ve already started to create great social spaces and easy access between the Students’ Union, halls of residence, and other facilities. We’ve committed to doubling the investment that’s already started to create enhanced facilities. Come 2016, it’s going to have the buzz and the feel of the edge-of-city campus that students want. Vice-Chancellor Professor Michael Gunn Healthcare Centres of Excellence This redevelopment work isn’t just happening in Stoke-on-Trent though. Healthcare and Midwifery students won’t miss out with significant further investment in our Centres of Excellence in Stafford and Shrewsbury – adding new student spaces and learning resources to make these campuses totally self-contained and right up to date. So, with all this to come, maybe it’s time you joined us at Staffordshire University?
Discover more: www.staffs.ac.uk/undergraduate
t: 01782 294400
KEY FACTS WORK STARTS: SUMMER 2015 ADDITIONAL £40M INVESTMENT IN STOKE-ON-TRENT CAMPUS MULTI-MILLION POUND INVESTMENT IN STAFFORD CENTRE OF HEALTHCARE EXCELLENCE AND SHREWSBURY CENTRE OF HEALTHCARE EXCELLENCE COMPLETION DATE: AUTUMN 2016.
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CHOOSE
MORE AT STAFFORDSHIRE UNIVERSITY, WE WANT TO GIVE YOU AN EDGE OVER THE COMPETITION. WE WANT YOU TO TAKE AWAY SOMETHING EXTRA. SO WE MAKE SURE YOU’LL GET SOMETHING EXTRA WHEN YOU’RE HERE. A LOT EXTRA ACTUALLY. To help you open doors as well as your mind, we’re spending millions of pounds on our edge-of-city campus. When you’re here, you’ll be able to work with brilliant academics and access a whole load of cutting edge facilities; from animation studios to photography darkrooms to surface decoration workshops. Past students have gone on to exhibit at prestigious galleries, museums and festivals across the world.
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You can also get more back with grants, loans and bursaries to help fund your study whilst enjoying a cost of living ranked the third lowest in the UK.
MAKE MORE OF YOUR TIME HERE • Improve your skills with online training platform Lynda.com and access over 3,000 online tutorial videos • Want to get fit while you study? Take advantage of our special student rate gym memberships • Don’t just learn while you’re with us, earn. Take a job at the Students’ Union, become a paid Student Ambassador with Unitemps or turn working while you study upside down with a seasonal role at Alton Towers Resort • Then spend. We’re a hop, skip and a short walk from shops, boutiques, restaurants, bars and clubs • Catch the latest musicals, opera, drama at the Regent Theatre and Stafford Gatehouse
MORE WAYS TO STUDY YOUR WAY • Grants, loans and bursaries to help fund your study • More hands-on, real world learning, fewer lectures • Hit the books whenever you want - access to our 24- hour library • Get all the software you need including access to the Adobe Creative Cloud Suite and download Microsoft Office 365 on up to five devices for free • Professional guest lecturers - previous presentations included Microsoft, Marvel Comics and Epic Games
At Staffordshire University, you’re in the best place to do more, with City Centre shops, boutiques, restaurants, theatres, bars and clubs all just a short stroll away. Plus, with student rate gym memberships and over 100 sports, clubs and societies to join – including skydiving, snow sports and our very own Beard Society – you can experience more too. So, if you’re looking for a place that gives you exactly what you need to succeed (and more), then open the door and your mind to Staffordshire University.
A CAMPUS WITH MORE TO OFFER • We’ve spent and continue to spend millions of pounds on our edge-of-city campus • We’re a place literally in the middle of things with easy access to Manchester, Birmingham, London • Get your film fix at our on-campus Film Theatre • Take advantage of our brilliant and friendly Student Support team • Stay fit and well with our NHS Healthcare centre with two doctors • Enjoy a cost of living ranked third lowest in the UK
Discover more: www.staffs.ac.uk/undergraduate
t: 01782 294400
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There’s only one real way to experience Staffordshire University, and that’s to come and see it for yourself.
University is where you’re due to spend the next few years of your life, so before you decide on somewhere, it makes sense to have a good look around. That’s where an Open Day comes in. This is your opportunity to get to know the place. Test it out. Immerse yourself in every aspect of Staffordshire University and see if it’s right for you. We’ll give you the chance to see everything, from the Students’ Union and the library to the IT suites and our impressive sports facilities. We’ll also show you the halls of residence, so you can start planning exactly where to put your TV and laptop. You’ll then meet our expert lecturers, see live demonstrations of lab and studio sessions, and delve deeper into your chosen subject with an informative talk. Advice is available on managing your student finances and ways to fund your study, as well as tips on writing a strong personal statement to include in your application.
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Best of all, you’ll have time to speak with current students about their experiences of Staffordshire University – which means you can hear exactly what it’s like to be at the heart of things in the centre of the country. It’s the best way to get a real feel for life here. Our Open Days give you an idea of everything Staffordshire University has to offer, so you’ll be ready to make one of the most important – and most exciting – decisions of your life.
LEARN MORE OR BOOK YOUR PLACE AT
www.staffs.ac.uk/opendays GO ONLINE TO WATCH OUR VIRTUAL TOURS
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CLEARING
The UCAS clearing process gives students another opportunity to find a place.
MISSED THE UCAS DEADLINE?
Don’t worry, apply via UCAS until the end of June and if we have vacancies left on your course we’ll consider your application. We accept CLEARING applications from mid July. Visit: www.staffs.ac.uk/clearing
Discover more: www.staffs.ac.uk/undergraduate
t: 01782 294400
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For more detailed information on courses or studying at Staffordshire University, visit: www.staffs.ac.uk/undergraduate
www.staffs.ac.uk/socialmedia The information in this guide is correct at time of publication, but may be subject to change.
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