Always wanted to know how to design products? Or do you want to design products yourself? You learn it all in the Industrial Product Design course. You can read about what this study, at HBO level, entails and what you can do with it in this article.
Industrial Product Design
You don’t hear it very often, people who design industrial products, or IPO, are studying. Yet there are quite a few institutions in the Netherlands where you can follow the study. At HBO level, that is about thirteen schools in Belgium and the Netherlands. Yet all products in this world are designed by mostly graduates of IPO.
Who can follow this study?
In fact, anyone can, if he or she wants to, follow this study, provided you meet one of the following requirements:
Admission requirements:
- MBO diploma, Level 4
- Havo profiles: N&T, N&G with physics or E&M with physics
- VWO profiles: E&M, N&G and N&T
Furthermore, a little technical insight and creativity is also useful. The training is mainly a mix between creativity and technology. The student must also be motivated, of course, because the program demands a lot from the students when it comes to the hours that must be spent on the program at home. The program also has one of the most contact hours of all programs in the Netherlands.
What does the study entail?
As an Industrial Product Designer you will be trained to become a designer with the title engineer. You are then a designer who can design all kinds of utensils and products from everyday life. From coffee makers to cell phones and from televisions to chairs, you can design it all. But you should also be able to design lesser-known items such as hospital equipment.
Practical subjects and time commitment
Because many aspects of design cannot be learned from dry theory, the training is quite practical. About half the time you have practical lessons and half the time theory lessons. With practical lessons, think especially of making prototypes in the workshop, material testing in materials science or making models on the computer. Theoretical subjects are initially subjects such as mathematics, physics and Dutch. Later these will become more subjects such as strength learning, mechanics and design methodologies.
Level of training
This HBO program is a perfect match for HAVO graduates, for most students who come from HAVO it is doable if they have had maths. For VWO students who have had Mathematics B and Physics it is even quite simple to do. Sometimes the training for MBO students can sometimes be a bit difficult. Especially MBO students who have never had mathematics or physics are quite behind in the beginning. What is very useful with this training, almost all teachers come from the design world themselves and therefore know a lot about the profession. It is also useful if the student has a bit of skill with technology. This can be very useful for courses such as prototyping. A little creativity is also not wrong.
Future possibilities
As your graduate, you can start your own design company or join another company as a designer. You are often part of a larger team and you work together on the design of a product.
Cost
Besides the study costs, the training is not cheap. It is drawn with markers and fineliners that often have to be replaced. An average marker of a shade within a given color is about 8.50. Since you work with many colors and therefore many shades within that color, you also lose quite a bit of money. Drawing folders, marker paper (expensive) and materials for prototypes often also have to be purchased yourself.
Where can you follow this training?
You can follow this study in the following cities at HBO level:
- Almere
- Antwerp
- Arnhem
- the Hague
- Enschede
- Eindhoven
- Nijmegen
- Rotterdam
- Venlo
- Zwolle
The study can also be followed in other cities at MBO and WO level.
Extra information about Industrial product design (IPO)
- The training lasts four years
- There is also an AD variant of this training
- In the 2nd and 4th year there is an internship, which can be followed abroad