Department of Product Design

Product design (industrial design) is a field of artistes, designers, and inventors who create the objects we use in our daily life. Students with a wide range of talents in drawing, model making, painting and sculpture join the School of Art and Design (SAD) from all over Pakistan. All of them find a home at the Department of Product Design.

To be used currently or in the future, the students could be designing audio equipment, cars, cell phones, children’s playgrounds, digital gadgets, disaster relief equipments, educational toys for both children and grownups, furniture, gaming devices, hospital equipments, household appliances, motorcycles, office equipment, personal care appliances, planes, space vehicles, etc. In short, there is no limit to the leaps of their imagination.

A product designer is committed to improving the quality of daily human environment with products that are both functional and artistic. Therefore, correlating sociological, cultural and ergonomic information with its real human needs creatively is the testing ground for the students. For the first time in Pakistan’s history, the Department of Product Design has been established to produce graduates with the ability to create imaginative, functionally safe and appealing consumer products.

The Department of Product Design at SAD is dedicated to humanising technology and improving the process of innovation by developing and teaching a more methodological and human-centred approach to design. While most new products and services today are created in response to technology, we believe that real innovation starts with users’ needs and employs a set of reliable methods, theories and tools to create solutions to their problems. The students are taught that good design and highly creative solutions to simple problems can improve people's lives through a seamless blend of functionality, attractiveness and relevance.

The Department of Product Design at SAD is by far the largest such department in Pakistan, simply by virtue of large number of students enrolled. It has also been declared as a leader in product design education in Pakistan. The department offers undergraduate degrees in a wide range of disciplines. Moreover, its weekend/summer programmes offer design education to people of all ages and levels of experience. Fundamental to SAD’s core curriculum is a commitment to social and cultural engagement, and to giving the students the tools and skills with which to address real-world issues.

The Department of Product Design is strategically located in the heart of light engineering manufacturing triangle of Gujranwala, Gujrat and Sialkot, and is crucial to the development of quality manufacturing for both domestic and foreign markets. This adds up to a universe of career possibilities for the students. These possibilities are wider, more socially relevant, and more professionally and personally rewarding than ever before. Considering the worldwide breakneck pace of the industry’s growth today, we are exploring a new design education template, one that is flexible and attuned to the realities of an increasingly complex modern world.

We are committed to teaching the students not only tangible skills in commercial applications, but also important, if less tangible, lessons in social awareness and responsibility. We want them to apply what they learn at the Department of Product Design in the world of design, but also in the world beyond. As the Bauhaus period in the history of design pioneered the concept of introducing appreciation of art into our daily lives by infusing the sense of design, the Department is pioneering the union of art and design with social responsibility.

In addition to its mission of preparing the students to become leaders in their fields, the Department of Product Design wants to instill in them a sense of purpose. We want the students to devise ways of applying their skills in various design disciplines to find solutions to multi-faceted humanitarian and environmental problems.

The Department of Product Design plans to form a cohesive platform from where to launch an ambitious series of regional, national and international initiatives that will help redefine the meaning and purpose of product design. Getting the students to think differently, to think outside the lines of their chosen discipline, also requires a new academic strategy, which we have devised through our innovative curriculum.

We have reshaped and retooled our courses of study to reflect the complex realities of today’s world and to create a new, more socially responsive generation of design leaders. By engaging in broader course parameters, the students acquire a wider knowledge base, and an ability to work and excel in traditional and non-traditional art and design fields.

Considering the almost non-existence of product design programmes in Pakistan, our mission is to introduce Product Design education all over Pakistan. To achieve this goal, we need students who are intelligent, creative, fearless and committed. We need them to partner with us to chart the future of Product Design education in the country.

As we prepare the students for success in the industry, we also want to them to anticipate what lies ahead, to get them to think beyond current paradigms so that they can set trends, not just follow them. We want them to think about how design can help improve people’s lives in both direct and indirect ways. In short, we need students who can rise to the challenge of making the Department of Product Design the best of its kind in Pakistan.

Pakistan Product Design Centre

Businesses have increasingly become attuned to the value of design as a vital part of their strategic planning. The students interact with industries, institutions and social organisations during their projects to understand, study, analyse and solve various existing problems. The choice and outcome of the final degree projects reflect the aspiration of the students to change Pakistan’s product design and manufacturing quality woes.

The premises of SAD is fully equipped with 12 highly advanced, state-of-the-art workshops, studios and laboratories, which provide world class education and skill training, develop individual talents of the students, and guide them towards their specialised interests. Opportunities after graduation are as unique and broad as our students themselves.

Realising the need for qualified designers and product innovators, UOG has established the Pakistan Product Design Centre (PPDC) at SAD. The Centre functions independently as a product development incubator and also caters to the local industry’s design requirements. The PPDC seeks to establish beneficial partnerships with business companies and organisations. Through these initiatives, both the students and faculty learn about different creative processes, new products and materials, and innovations unique to each corporate partner.

The PPDC organises seminars/workshops on various locally manufactured existing product case studies. After identifying critical areas through these activities, it assists and/or undertakes research into possible solutions involving the students, faculty members, industry specialists and other experts, so as to encourage trans-disciplinary approach to design and manufacture problem-solving. This approach will contribute to workforce development and capacity building of concerned industries, as well as lead to evidence-based policymaking in the country.