Product Design Engineering BSc (Hons)

Overview

The Guardian University Guide 2024 ranks Brunel design graduates top in the UK for career after 15 months, while government figures also show Brunel design graduates rank no.1 for graduate earnings in the UK.*

Get a visual overview of this exciting programme by watching our colourful short video.

Design at Brunel is all about realising fantastic ideas in the real world. Our Product Design Engineering BSc degree is for creative thinkers who are also comfortable with logical reasoning and who enjoy deeper analysis of functional and technical design challenges, principally focused on industrially-manufactured products. The course spans design and engineering, meaning you can develop products and systems with good form and function.

There is a lot of project-based learning to test your skills and you’ll see the outcome of your design from concept to making the actual product. This means you’ll be able to build a great portfolio of your best-quality projects, academic and industry briefs, and case studies, during your studies.

You’ll have workshop training and will use industry-standard equipment and software to develop quality hands-on skills to become a maker. You'll have access to modern facilities that include dedicated design studios, digital sketching, extensive prototyping workshops, and electronics and digital fabrication labs. The practical knowledge you gain is transferable to industry and provides a head start for your future career as a designer and design engineer in the modern world.

Our design course can be studied 3 years full-time or 4 years full-time with placement, starting in September. The placement year helps you to prepare for the world of work and you’ll have a year’s worth of invaluable professional experience when you graduate. Our students have worked in both small innovation start-ups and multinational organisations such as Dyson, Jaguar Land Rover, Philips, Procter & Gamble, and Reckitt Benckiser. This short video features a student on placement as a toy inventor.

Our students have the opportunity to study abroad. You could spend a term or a year in one of our partner universities via our exchange programme: Politecnico di Milano in Italy; Delft University of Technology in The Netherlands, San Francisco State University in the USA and Institut Superieur de Design, ISD Bubika in France. New exchange opportunities are being developed with India, Canada and China.

Made in Brunel is a unique, student-led initiative that showcases our design talent at its finest. Each year our students run a series of industry and community events leading up to the Made in Brunel exhibition. This annual showcase is a highlight of the London design calendar and promotes the incredible work our students produce to the creative community, and is a great way for our students to network with design professionals and potential employers.

If you are interested in turning a product or technology idea into a business after you graduate, we are in partnership with the Central Research Laboratory (CRL), a design incubator for start-ups. You’ll have access to meeting rooms and workspace as well as prototyping facilities. A team of in-house professionals will guide and support you at each stage and a number of our previous entrepreneurial students have successfully commercialised their products.

The BSc Product Design Engineering course option is fully accredited and recognised by the Institution of Engineering Designers (IED), the premier professional body representing engineering and product designers.

* Longitudinal Employment Outcomes (LEO) 2022

You can explore our campus and facilities for yourself by taking our virtual tour.

Course content

The first two years contain a balanced blend of creative and technical subjects and mechanics and electronics are taught at a theoretical level. In your final year, you move on to more specialised areas and you’ll become familiar with computer aided design, engineering and manufacturing software, applying these methods and tools to design practice. Your major project is likely to include a functional prototype incorporating mechanics and/or electronics. The MDes year features further specialisation and research-led design.

Year 1

Compulsory

Electronics and Mathematics
Aim: To provide students with a foundation in Electronic Engineering, relevant Mathematical knowledge and electronic components in terms of functionality and applications. To also provide working knowledge in computer software to simulate and solve electronic circuits and associated mathematics.
Design Process and Research
Aim: To enable students to familiarise with the design process and engage with the broader context of design research methods, their application within visual, market, user-centred, inclusive and other design fields. To also understand design’s ethical position and the relationships between societal, economic and environmental dimensions in global and local contexts relating to design decisions.
Design Communication
Aim: To enable students to have an appreciation of visual literacy in the context of design and visual expression, appreciating the context of visual thinking and to develop visual thinking techniques and processes through a variety of media. To help students develop foundation skills in visual communication, graphic communication, visualisation, design and the use of computer-generated media methods.
Materials and Manufacturing
Aim: To enable students to develop the fundamental knowledge of materials science and materials engineering, properties for various materials, the selection process and manufacturing methods. To also help students to establish links between materials, production volumes and manufacturing processes in product design.
Introduction to Mechanics
Aim: To introduce basic concepts and methods of engineering mechanics including statics and dynamics, relevant to the analysis of existing products using mathematical elements that underpin engineering mechanics. To enable students to make informed judgements about load, product geometry, mechanics of materials and energy considerations.
Computer Based Design
To introduce students to the basics of computer-based design methods and techniques including model representations, geometric sketches, constraints, and 3D features. To develop understanding and skills required to produce computer generated digital models, technical drawings, material simulation and rapid prototyping approaches within a CAD environment.

Year 2

Compulsory

Design Practice and Minor Projects
This module enables students to develop their ability to use methodologies to conceive, explore, develop, evaluate, synthesise, realise, externalise and communicate the design of products and solutions through virtual modelling and simulation. By tackling design challenges through innovation, they systematically apply design process tools within a variety of contexts, with consideration to design, engineering and manufacturing issues.
Design for Manufacturing and Advanced CAD
The module will help students to develop awareness of the range of suitable manufacturing processes for key materials such as plastics and metals, by also considering the manufacturing constraints and potential defects. To better identify the design rules necessary to avoid product quality issues and to establish the proper links between virtual prototyping in CAD, physical prototyping, scaled production volumes and efficient assembly/joining methods.
Electronic systems, Programming and Interfacing
This module will introduce students to electronic systems, interfacing, and high-level software design methods, and to provide an opportunity to apply the knowledge gained in a practical setting. Basic IoT applications will also be covered as part of the electronics component.
UX Design and Graphics
The module offers the opportunity to develop students’ critical awareness, understanding and skills to think and communicate visually across all stages of the design process including branding, design, usability and function.
Fundamentals of Innovation
This module enables students to develop capabilities relating to personal innovation and creativity, to enhance entrepreneurial thinking and manage innovation. Students will be introduced to the concepts and relevant theories of innovation and entrepreneurship, while instilling their importance during the introduction, growth and survival of new products, services and businesses.
Fundamentals of Design for Sustainability
The module introduces students to concept such as sustainable development, key environmental issues, Life Cycle Analysis etc. Students carry out a streamlined environmental review of a product in the earliest stages of the design process. Students will gain an in-depth knowledge of product eco-design and design for circular products, and to be able to apply these approaches in practice.

Year 3

Compulsory

Product Design Engineering Major Project - Research
This module enables students to research and define the requirements of a self-defined or industry-based project. They will demonstrate the comprehensive skills acquired through their academic programme and apply these to define a product design engineering opportunity. Students will demonstrate a deep level of knowledge of the design and innovation process and develop individual specialisations and creative differentiation.
Product Design Engineering Major Project - Development
From the insights and definition gained during their major project research module, students will combine all the skills acquired during their course to develop an innovative product design engineering proposal, demonstrating problem solving using critical technical judgements and engineering approaches. They will also design and robustly test electronic circuits using various electronic boards and microcontrollers to produce viable design applications.

Optional

Embedded Systems for Product Design Project
This module provides an environment for students to develop and demonstrate skills and knowledge in the application of microcontroller interfacing techniques, to understand theoretical and code-related principles associated with embedded systems and to design dedicated electronic and electromechanical embedded systems that can be transferred to their major project and that can be used for prototyping products of commercial quality.
Product Design Engineering Analysis Project
This module will develop students’ ability to analyse the stress distribution of a component both theoretically and using Finite Element Analysis (FEA), the ability to analyse the structure, dynamics and mechanisms of products theoretically and interpret and present the results to optimise a design. Students will develop technical and analytical skills in the real-world of product design.
Advanced Design Innovation Project
This module offers the opportunity to develop advanced design innovation methodologies and approaches that enable a broader understanding of the current and future contextual issues facing our world and identify creative solutions that respond to real human needs. The module combines design process, brand re-positioning, detailed product visual language, product family image and the production of high-quality visual appearance models.
Advanced Design for Sustainability Project
This module enables students to tackle sustainability challenges by shaping production-consumption systems (product-service system design, design for circular systems), individual behaviour (emotionally durable design, design for sustainable behaviour) and collective behaviour (design for social innovations). Students will analyse a complex sustainability challenge, identify critical issues and apply a combination of design for sustainability approaches to address the challenge.
Advanced UX and Interaction Design Project
The module aims to provide a working knowledge of interaction design, user experience and user interface principles. Students will be introduced to various interaction design approaches and design tools including participatory and co-design techniques. Students will participate in the critical evaluation of digital products and develop appropriate methodologies, processes and techniques for creative data and systems visualisation.
Integrated Human Factors Project
The module enables students to develop a detailed knowledge of human factors and helps students to integrate cognitive, physical, and affective human factors when considering the design of products and services. Through project work, students will identify areas for improvement and through a Human-Centred Design approach, demonstrate the ability to identify design solutions that meet and exceed the user requirements.

This course can be studied undefined undefined, starting in undefined.

This course has a placement option. Find out more about work placements available.

Please note that all modules are subject to change.

Careers and your future

To help you prepare for the world of work, we’ll encourage you to take the placement option, incorporating a year spent in industry. This means you’ll have a year’s worth of invaluable professional experience and networks when you graduate. Our students have worked on placement for both small innovation start-ups and multinational organisations.

Graduates of Brunel Design School have gone on to work for well-known companies, including Disney, Dyson, JCB, Jaguar Land Rover, Philips and Cambridge Consultants.

UK entry requirements

2026/27 entry

Please check our Admissions pages for more information on other factors we use to assess applicants as well as our full GCSE requirements and accepted equivalencies in place of GCSEs.

Brunel University London is committed to raising the aspirations of our applicants and students. We will fully review your UCAS application and, where we’re able to offer a place, this will be personalised to you based on your application and education journey.

All applicants are required to provide a portfolio for review as part of the selection process before a formal offer is made. Admissions will contact you when the portfolio is required and send you details of what the portfolio should include.

GCSEs

A minimum of five GCSEs are required, including GCSE Mathematics grade C or grade 4 and GCSE English Language grade C or grade 4 or GCSE English Literature grade B or grade 5.

A-level

Standard Offer: ABB including Maths or Physics

Contextual Offer: BBC including B in Maths or Physics