Graduate Minor

Product Design can be described as the planning of an item intended to be manufactured and sold. These items exist both as discrete artifacts and as actors in larger social systems, such as branded environments, services, experiences and social interactions.

Products are everywhere, from the toothbrush you used this morning to the bike, car or train you rode to work, to the laptop and pen you are using right now, to the airplane you will be on in the future. All of these products affect our lives across the social, political, economic and cultural spectrum. To design products is at essence shaping the future of civilization.

Product design is inherently creative and interdisciplinary. The sculptural concerns of a model-maker interface with an engineer’s desire to optimize functionality. An anthropologist’s observations about how people meet challenges are augmented by a marketer’s approach to tailor product branding to specific sub-cultures. Product cost and feasibility is determined in part by business and marketing studies. Physiologists, psychologists and kinesiologists contribute to the product’s interaction and comfort of use. At the University of Minnesota, all of these areas and more come together in the design of products.

Requirements

A graduate minor may be earned in product design when it logically relates to the graduate major field. The minor program is designed to suit the particular needs and interests of the student. The course of study is determined in consultation with the student’s major advisor and the Director of Graduate Studies for the minor.

To receive a minor in product design, a student should experience at least one team-based product design process wherein they take an original concept to a working prototype stage with some level of customer involvement. The student should be capable of coming up with creative product concepts, visualizing these concepts, and making well-crafted purposeful prototypes. Ideally, this student will also have exposure to and an understanding of a variety of manufacturing processes and materials, and have a general knowledge of human factors, marketing and intellectual property.

Classes have been selected from across the university that will provide a student with a strong introduction to many of the skills needed to pursue a career in product design. Product Design Minor courses are grouped into the following categories:

• Product Design Process
• Creativity and Innovation
• Drawing and Visualization
• Prototyping, Manufacturing and the Environment
• Human Factors
• Understanding the Consumer and Market

Curriculum

To complete the Product Design Graduate Minor, Master’s students are required to take 11 credits and PhD students are required to take 12 credits. There are two components to the minor—core courses and additional courses. All students take PDes 5701, Creativity, Idea Generation, and Innovation, and also select one of four product design process options. Remaining credits to meet the credit minimum are to be selected from a list. Courses that meet the core requirement can be used as additional courses if they were not taken to meet the core option.

A minimum of two PDes courses must be taken to fulfill this minor. Courses listed under the core requirement can be used to fulfill the remaining credits if they were not taken to meet the core option.

Other courses may be substituted with the approval of the Director of Graduate Studies for the Product Design Graduate Minor.

Application (.pdf)

A list of the Product Design Graduate Faculty members can be found here.

Would you like to know how this minor could benefit you? ...which classes are the best match for your interests? Contact Barry Kudrowitz, Director of Graduate Studies for the Product Design Graduate Minor.