Product Design
Make products that meet the needs of our society and take on the challenges of project design as a great opportunity for your growth
Turin
On campus
ITA
First Level Academic Diploma in Design - Specialization in Product Design
Language
Italian
Start date
October 2025
Frequency
Full time
Fruition
On campus
Duration
3 Years
Credits
180
Course Coordination
Alice Mela, Marco Cassino
Learn how to design human-centred products and services reflecting the evolution of new emerging needs. This is just what the Product Design Undergraduate Programme at IED Torino is all about.
Develop groundbreaking ideas with projects tailored and structured for modern life and people. You will learn how to design and create products and services using human-centred approaches and methods that can fit perfectly into different situations. Make the most of materials, experiment with new things and transform them all into projects reflecting the idea of the future you have in mind. Learn how to tell the story of your product, create a narrative to get straight to the heart of your target bringing curiosity and empathy.
Over the three years of your programme in Product Design, we will encourage you to think creatively and with a fresh perspective. You will have the opportunity to explore a project design culture open to embracing the changing world that moves all around us. The strong project-oriented approach of this programme will allow you to experiment with different design methods and learn how to best respond to contemporary trends and challenges.
We will help you approach current challenges such as changing needs and context-related situations. You will become a professional with a multidisciplinary perspective, which is an essential prerequisite if you want to successfully move into a designer role. You will go on to develop your own creative mindset approaching the world of design products and gaining insight into practical, aesthetic, commercial and critical implications of your work.
Issued Degree:
Diploma Accademico di Primo Livello (DAPL), corresponding to a Bachelor of Arts Degree (BA) – EQF6 Level (European Qualification Framework).
Credits:
The course awards 180 CFA (Academic Formative Credits), corresponding to 180 ECTS (European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System).
Information to decide
Learning how to design and plan every step in the development of a product or service
The Product Design programme at IED Torino provides an in-depth understanding of the different steps involved in a project, from briefing to project communication. Classroom sessions will be covering the areas of design and production of everyday objects used as part of our personal, social, economic and cultural lifestyle. By exploring all the different areas involved in project design, including drawing, modelling, historical data and market analysis, you will learn to take on different perspectives to interpret a variety of contexts. You will also understand how to use different tools and methods depending on specific needs and the type of product you want to create.
Over the three years, you will have the opportunity to test yourself on a whole variety of assignments, from self-production to developing solutions for outsourced projects. These projects will help you deal with change as a catalyst for seeking new solutions, with technology contributing to human activities and desires in a constant process of transformation. Across the different projects, you will be deepening your knowledge on such subjects as design, materials science, branding and marketing. All of this will be useful to be able to interpret and predict changing market needs and trends.
The aim of the programme is to introduce you to the knowledge and tools required to design taking a technical-humanistic approach. You will be able to interpret contexts - and even stay one step ahead - using a human-centred integrated approach. This means looking at project design as a way to develop products and services in terms of concept creation, practical use, strategy and business logic.
The Product Design degree programme at IED Torino is thought for anyone like you who is curious about what the world of everyday objects around us is all about. If you also have a desire to develop and practise your creative thinking skills, looking at project design methods as a way to deliver products and services, this is exactly the type of training for you.
Admission to the programme is not restricted to any particular prerequisites. Whatever your background education, we will be happy to support you and any of your classmates with different backgrounds as you all prepare to move into your future careers as Product Designers.
One of the main skills for those who choose to specialize in Product Design is the ability to think strategically and creatively. You will learn to understand and interpret any signs, even small ones, coming out from the world around you. At the same time, you will also continue to develop your visionary potential. Indeed anyone who works in product design has the power to look beyond the ordinary and set new trends, providing a driving force and creating products and services of exceptional value.
The Product Design degree programme at IED Torino is well-known and valued for its high standards of teaching. Indeed students here feel like they can easily move into the career opportunities that best suit their interests or inclinations.
The programme has a strong focus on innovation and experimentation with new material options. These are explored as part of the overall curriculum as early as the first academic year, in such a way that students can develop quickly a curious approach to project design, where nothing is ever taken for granted.
Exchange of ideas with companies partnering with IED will be part of the learning experience as early as the second year. You will have the opportunity to learn more about the Italian product design industry working in the classroom but also as part of extracurricular activities like workshops, special projects and contests.
As far as career prospects go, Product Designers can either work as freelancers or be employed in small, medium or large sized companies in the manufacturing industry, as well as in public or private institutions. Their skills will be useful as they develop and manage projects in close cooperation with their customers, providing support to research activities and concept development tasks, and working across production and technology systems of increasing complexity.
Upon completion of your Product Design degree programme at IED Torino, you will have gained a strong base of skills covering theory and humanities, combined with technical, graphic, technological and digital expertise. In addition, excellent communication and storytelling skills developed over the three years will enable you to work as Product Designer, Industrial Designer, Execution Technician, Project Executer, Concept Designer, Maker, Speculative Designer, Researcher.
The main software you will need during your course is provided by IED!
On this page you will find all the features you need for your computer.
Syllabus
first year
On your first year of the Product Design degree programme at IED Torino, you will learn about preliminary subjects - including both theory and practice - which will provide the basis for your education, cultural background and project design methodology. You will have a closer look at art and design history, approaching design through lab-based learning opportunities in the areas of pattern making, graphic design, and product design.
HISTORY OF CONTEMPORARY ART
PROJECT DESIGN METHODOLOGY
MATERIALS TYPOLOGY 1
TECHNICAL AND PROJECT DESIGN
DESIGN HISTORY 1
MODELLING 1
GRAPHIC DESIGN
PRODUCT DESIGN 1
THEORY OF PERCEPTION AND PSYCHOLOGY OF FORM
CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY
second year
On year two, you will be involved in a variety of projects, where you will acquire increased analytical skills and consolidate your project design know-how across the whole process. You will have the opportunity to get deeper into both traditional and digital modelling, with extensive study and practice of handcrafted design techniques and the use of the latest digital software tools.
MATERIALS TYPOLOGY 2
DESIGN TECHNIQUES AND TECHNOLOGIES
DESIGN HISTORY 2
MODELLING 2
PRODUCT DESIGN 2
DESIGN 1
DIGITAL MODELLING TECHNIQUES WITH 3D SOFTWARE
SOCIOLOGY OF CULTURAL PROCESSES
DESIGN MANAGEMENT
DESIGN HISTORY 3
third year
The third year will be focused on advanced design. You will learn to work with more independence on your projects, as you progress from basic understanding of a customer brief to the creation of 3D models and physical prototypes. You will also be working on your dissertation project, where you will have the opportunity to express your own vision of Product Design.
PRODUCT DESIGN 3
3D RENDERING
PHENOMENOLOGY OF CONTEMPORARY ARTS
INTERACTION DESIGN
LAYOUT AND GRAPHIC RENDERING TECHNIQUES
DESIGN 2
Faculty
Alice Mela
Interaction designer & Creative technologist
Course Coordinator
Marco Cassino
Founder of Volcano Design Studio
Course Coordinator
Germana Chiusano
Architect, Researcher and Lecturer
Isabel Farina
Co-founder and UX Researcher at ALMA Female
Damiano Frison
Fablab Manager at Fablab Torino
Luigi Ferrando
Interior and exibit designer
Fabio La Marca
Video Maker at SGI Torino
Giulia Liverani
Co-Founder and Product Designer at OliveLab s.r.l
Paolo Maccarrone
Architect - Founder of Circolo del Design di Torino
Alessia Pagotto
Co-founder of Studio Sostanza and product designer
Andrea Sanna
Freelance designer
Giuseppe Tuttobene
Co-founder of Quattrolinee
Motoki Yoshio
Designer & Founder of MOTOKI YOSHIO Studio
Matteo Zaghi
Founder of Design ProDe - Outdoor Equipment Designer & Developer
Massimo Banzi
Inside the labs
+2
FAB LAB
+3
CINTIQ LABS
+3
CLAY WORKSHOP
+4
SCANNER LASER 3D - G-SCAN
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