Product Design · Broad General Education (S1–S3)
Design it, model it, make it. BGE Product Design takes you through the whole design process, from a design brief to a finished product you can take home. You will sketch ideas, build models and prototypes, then make your product in card, wood, metal or acrylic.
SCALE 1:1
BGEProduct Design
SubjectProduct Design
LevelBGE · S1–S3
LicenceFree to copy, adapt, share
Sheet04.3 · BGE
01Choose a project
Projects are grouped by level. Each one takes you through the design process and ends with something real that you have designed and made.
Design a cup carrier from flat sheets of card. Develop a net, score and fold it, then test your design until it carries drinks without a spill.
Coming soon
Design and make your own LED lamp. Find out how a simple circuit works, then give your lamp a form that looks great and does its job.
Coming soon
Design and build a small wooden shelf or storage unit. Mark out, cut and join wood accurately, then finish it for your room.
Coming soon
Design an ear bud winder that keeps your earphones tangle-free. Research, sketch, prototype in card, then make it in metal, wood or acrylic, by hand or on the laser cutter.
Open EarBuddy →
Design and make a keyring that is uniquely yours. Sketch your ideas, choose a material and make it in the workshop.
Coming soon
Give scrap a second life. Take something that would be thrown away and redesign it into a useful new product.
Coming soon
Turn offcuts of waste wood into a small product worth keeping, like a phone stand or a desk tidy.
Coming soon
Design a chair and build it as a scale model. Learn about ergonomics and proportion, and how furniture designers test their ideas.
Coming soon
02Why Product Design
Every object around you was designed by someone. Product Design teaches you to think like that someone: spot a problem, come up with ideas, and turn the best one into something that works.
Why it is useful
Designers start with a need, not a product. You will learn to look closely at everyday problems and design something that genuinely makes life better for the people who use it.
Why it is useful
Using tools, materials and machines safely and accurately builds practical skills and confidence that you will use for the rest of your life.
Why it is useful
Measuring, planning, sketching and evaluating link straight into maths, science and art, and lead on to Design and Manufacture, Practical Woodworking and Practical Metalworking at National 5.
Creative thinking
Creative designers first come up with lots of different ideas (divergent thinking), then judge them against the specification to pick the best one (convergent thinking).
Creative thinking
Models and prototypes let you test ideas quickly and cheaply. Every problem you find is a chance to improve the design before you make it for real.
Creative thinking
Creativity is a set of skills, not a gift. Education Scotland describes four: curiosity, open-mindedness, imagination and problem solving. Sketching, mind maps and asking “what if?” build all four.
03Where it can take you
Product Design skills lead to a huge range of jobs, and Scotland has excellent college and university courses to get you there. Course names change, so always check the college or university website and My World of Work for the latest details.
Design
Design the things people use every day, from kitchen gadgets to sports kit, balancing how they work, how they look and how they are made.
Engineering
Combine creative design with engineering to make sure products are strong, safe and can be manufactured at scale.
Making
Build the models and prototypes that companies use to test ideas, for products, architecture, film and TV.
Digital
Create the 3D models and drawings that drive laser cutters, 3D printers, CNC machines and factory production lines.
Craft
Design and build furniture that people keep for generations, from one-off pieces to products made in their thousands.
Education
Share what you love with the next generation. Scotland needs more Design and Technology teachers.
HNC and HND · Fife College
Design, model making and making skills for furniture and products.
HND · Edinburgh College
Product, interior and exhibition design, with routes on to university.
HND · City of Glasgow College
Designing and hand-making high-quality furniture.
HND · City of Glasgow College
Model making for design, architecture, film and TV.
BDes · Glasgow School of Art
Creative product design with a strong focus on people and experiences.
BEng / MEng · University of Glasgow and GSA
Engineering and design taught together by the University of Glasgow and Glasgow School of Art.
MEng · University of Strathclyde
Design, engineering and manufacture, with industry projects.
BDes · Edinburgh Napier University
Designing products from first idea to finished prototype.
BSc · University of Dundee
Taught at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design.
BA · Robert Gordon University
Close to home in Aberdeen, at Gray’s School of Art.
“Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works.”
Steve Jobs