Product Design BSc(Hons)

Preparing for your career

In your career you need a combination of knowledge, technical ability, communication skills and relevant experiences – and you’ll get all of this from your degree.

The product design degree course provides subject knowledge and expertise, opportunities to put what you learn into practice and work-related experience. You'll also develop transferable personal skills in teamwork, and project and time management skills that will be valued wherever your career takes you.

Working and collaborating with students from all years of your course, and with postgraduate and research students, is a big part of your learning experience.

Through your final year project you will demonstrate that you can design and take a product to market and show your work in the graduate show exhibition. Selected students will exhibit their work at the prestigious New Designers show in London.

A stand at New Designers, the London show where graduating students display their work to design educators, professionals and consumers.

Career destinations

Brighton’s product design course equips you for a wide variety of professions, ranging from traditional manufacturing and design consultancy through to creative industries such as graphics, social media, marketing, research and new technologies. We have an excellent graduate employment record and your CV will be enhanced by Brighton's reputation in the industry.

Our students have gone from Brighton into both local and internationally renowned companies including:

• Apple
• Dyson
• Hallmark Cards
• Jaguar
• Mars
• Nokia

Many have gone on to set up their own enterprises with support from the university.

Becoming a product designer

Our Product Design BSc(Hons) is accredited by the Institution of Engineering Designers (IED). This is a mark of assurance that shows that our degree meets the standards of the profession and provides confidence in your qualification to your future employers.

Our studio structure mean that when you graduate you will have experienced working in a studio culture, collaborating with peers and presenting your work to an audience.

Placement year

The experience you gain on your year-long placement is invaluable in helping you on your way to becoming a professional designer.

Many students find that this year informs their final year projects and enhances their employment prospects after graduating. Some go into their final year with a job offer from their placement company when they graduate.

Careers service

Outside of your course, our Careers Service is here to support you as you discover (and re-discover) your strengths and what matters to you. We are here for you throughout your university journey as you work towards a fulfilling and rewarding career.

Connect with our careers team

• Find part-time work that you can combine with your studies.
• Find, or be, a mentor or get involved with our peer-to-peer support scheme.
• Develop your business ideas through our entrepreneurial support network.
• Get professional advice and support with career planning, CV writing and interview top tips.
• Meet potential employers at our careers fairs.
• Find rewarding volunteering opportunities to help you discover more about what makes you tick, and build your CV.

Whatever your career needs, we are here to help. And that's not just while you are a student, our support carries on after you've graduated.

Find out more about our Careers Service...

Employment demand for arts graduates

The British Academy has compiled a report (May 2020) quantifying the demand for arts, humanities and social science (AHSS) skills in the workplace. It helps to answer the legitimate question of what the economic return is on undertaking a degree, both in time and money. 

According to the report:

• As arts, humanities and social science (AHSS) graduates progress through the first ten years of their career they are able to make strong progress up the career ladder into roles attracting higher salaries
• Arts, humanities and social science (AHSS) graduates are employed in some of the fastest growing sectors including financial services, education, social work, the media and creative industries
• Of the ten fastest growing sectors, eight employ more graduates from AHSS than other disciplines.

This makes AHSS graduates at the heart of some of the most exciting, productive, largest and fastest-growing sectors of the UK economy.

Future skills demand

According to the report:

• With the challenges the world is facing – climate change, global pandemics, the growth of populism – the UK needs the insights of the arts, humanities and social sciences (AHSS) as much as those from science, technology and engineering (STEM)
• Evidence within the report shows that Arts, humanities and social science (AHSS) graduates are central to these challenges and changes – they will be vital in giving us the tools to examine and explain human behaviour, understand how society functions, learn from the past and apply those lessons to the present, and analyse the drivers and implications of a changing world and how different countries, places and cultures interact.