Product Design
Entry Criteria
- English Language GCSE Grade 4
- Mathematics GCSE Grade 4
Examination Board
- AQA
Click here to visit the exam board course page for A Level Product Design.
Teaching Staff
- Mr Broderick
- Mrs Dunkerley
- Miss Mustoe
If you want a career in design, engineering, architecture or just enjoy a challenge; then why not choose a course that will stimulate your creative side, improve your problem solving skills, give you the chance to learn new and exciting skills and allow you to take charge of your own design portfolio?
Product Design (3D Design) is a challenging design based course intended to reflect the wide range of activities of a professional designer. It develops a capacity to design and manufacture products based on a variety of design styles, materials and concepts.
The course has been designed to encourage candidates to take a broad view of design and technology, to develop their capacity to design and make products and to appreciate the complex relationships between design, materials, manufacture and marketing.
The aim of Product Design is to:
- Develop innovation and creativity
- Develop an understanding of design influences between processes and products
- Work independently on design and making tasks
- Apply essential knowledge and understanding and skills of design production and industrial processes
- Recognise social, moral, spiritual and cultural values inherent in design and technology
Examples of work created by CHS students during their Product Design A Level course.
What do our students say about Product Design?
Sandhya completed her EPQ on set design which complemented her Product Design A Level
One thing I love about Product Design as it allows me to learn lots of different skills that I didn’t even know I had such as using machines and using different types computer software such as CAD.
Product Design has always been one of favourite subjects ever since I came to Crompton House I have learnt so much about and can’t wait to learn more and to start making my finial product for the final time at my last year at Sixth Form.
Other than Product Design I’m studying Art and Business, and I’m doing my EPQ in set design for Theatre.
My favourite thing about studying Product Design is that it provides a vast opportunity to develop creative ideas and bring them to life.
If I was going to start Year 12 again, I would have tried to find out more about the layout and structure of the course so that I knew what to expect during the year. My advice to new Year 12s would be to be creative and open minded when you are generating ideas for your different projects. You also need to take care to apply the theory you are learning in lessons to your own designs.
Other than Product Design, I am studying Maths and Physics. I’m planning to go into engineering in the future, hopefully through a Degree Apprenticeship. I haven’t decided what field of engineering I want to go in to, but I am leaning towards aeronautical engineering.
One of my favourite things about studying Product Design was that it gave me the ability to put my creative mind to the test and create some very good products over the 2 years I spent studying the subject at the 6th Form. The Product Design staff are also extremely helpful and easy to get on with and I formed a great relationship with the team especially with the class size being relatively small.
One of the things I do wish I had known before studying Product Design is that it is a subject which requires you to dedicate a lot of time especially in the second year when you are completing your NEA as completing the product, folder work and revising the theory on the side does take up a lot of time however it is also a lot of fun at the same time. As for giving advice to any Year 12s of thinking of taking this subject I would just simply say be prepared to plan your time because as long as you plan your time wisely you will thoroughly enjoy the subject.
The other subjects I studied in 6th Form are Psychology and Music and after 6th Form, I am going on to study Music on euphonium at the Royal Northern Collage of Music in Manchester. As for Product Design helping me in the future, I really think the subject helps with problem solving and also brings out your creative side which is very important when performing music and creating different effects and pictures for the audience when performing.
