Originally Published: June 2012
In September 2009 I had finished school and headed off to the University of Nottingham to study and engineering degree in product design and manufacture. A course that is halfway between mechanical engineering and an BA in product design, also known as industrial design. Throughout my 3 years there I had studied modules in the areas of:
- Engineering mathematics
- Mechanics
- Materials and material forming
- Electromechanical systems
- Physical and cognitive ergonomics
- Sketching
- Modeling techniques
- 3D/computer Modeling
- Photoshop, Illustrator, 3Ds Max, Pro Engineer and Google Sketchup
- Production management
- Rapid prototyping and modern manufacturing techniques
- Sustainable manufacture
The best parts of the course lay in the design projects we did as both individual and group work. With these projects we were given briefs from the tutors of from nationwide competitions and would go through the entire design, prototyping and pitching process. During our studio time, the University got in industry experts to help advise us alongside the tutors. Here’s a brief run down of some of the projects, most of which I have written about elsewhere on this site:
- Nottingham city bus shelter
- Branded car emergency pack
- Hostess trolley
- 3D printed camping cup
- Mobile market stall
- Electronic notepad for “Tomorrow’s Workplace”
- A range of wifi, colour changing lights
- Baby monitor
- Hand blender
- Elastic band powered toy kart
- Injection moulded mobile phone holder
The main part of my degree was the major project in the last year. This was a 6 month long project, where we got to choose our own problem to try and solve and work on it full time until our final presentation. I decided to look at designing products for the smart home of the future. Which resulted in Lumine, a range of wifi colour changing lights.
Another big part was the dissertation, for this I looked at the future of home design. This involved a lot of research on the history of art and design, in which I ended up creating a giant pin board timeline to help collect my thoughts and visualise trends. You can read more about my dissertation and the future of home design on this post.
During my time at Nottingham I also founded my startup Nine Studios. As I new I wanted to work on my own ideas and be part of the startup scene. Initially Nine Studios started as a design consultancy and I worked on a few graphic design projects, building logos and website designs. You can see the full history of Nine Studios and our current work on my post about it.
In the end I achieved a 1st class degree with honours and graduated top of my class in 2012. Turns out working hard paid off.
