Creativity & a scientific bent of mind

Students of automotive design receive training in all aspects of car design, including body shape

From kitchen appliances and mobile phones, to automobiles and medical equipment, this stream trains you to design products, systems and services of utilitarian value, which may be used in homes, workplaces, places of leisure, institutions and in outdoor spaces.

What does it involve?

As a product designer, you need to understand materials, processes, systems and ergonomics, but most importantly, human behaviour. Besides having design skills, you need to follow trends, understand technology, and also look at the implications of products, and their relationships with users.

About the course

Typically, product design courses range from three to five years. The course helps you develop technological skills, manufacturing skills and design management, all three key ingredients in product design. You will work on projects, as an individual as well as in a group. Industry-sponsored product development is also a key element, which gives students real-time, real-world experience.

Typically, product design courses include automobile and transportation design. However, some institutes offer a separate programme, altogether, as the demand for specialised automobile and transportation designers in India, and around the world is rising.

Specialised transportation programmes

Alongside its product design programme, MAEER’s MIT Institute of Design, Pune also offers a Graduate Diploma in Transportation Design, which does not merely focus on designing cars, but on all means of transportation for human beings as well as commodities. This includes all vehicles, from cars, bikes and cycles, to public transportation and service vehicles like ambulances, as well as designing transportation systems. DSK International, Pune also offers a very intensive five-year transportation design programme, which also includes a management component. The institute is known for its well-equipped laboratories for students to hone their hands-on skills.

A unique school

Pune is additionally home to a specialised school, the DYP-DC Centre for Automotive Research and Studies, started by automobile design pioneer Dilip Chhabria, along with the DY Patil Group. The institute, with inspiration, intuition, imagination and innovation being its guiding terms, offers a four-year undergraduate programme in automotive design, which especially focuses on cars. Students receive training in all aspects of car design including the outer body shape, the interiors, arranging components in the engine compartment, and definition of the interior and exterior forms, materials, textures and colours. Typically, automobile designers are absorbed by the R&D departments of large manufacturing companies and specialised design consultancies. They can also work as freelance designers, after some experience. 

Variety of products

• Toys

• Consumer durables

• FMCG products

• Transportation

• Helmets

• Kitchen products

• Table top products

• Medical equipment

Course subjects

• Ergonomics

• Design Process

• Strength of Materials

• System Design

• Technologies & Structures

• Sustainable Design

• Knowledge of manufacturing

Employment opportunities

• Design studios

• Companies dealing with consumer durables, electronics, automotives, personal products

• Small to Medium scale enterprises

• Organizations dealing with infrastructure and amenities like water treatment, waste treatment, thermal management, building technologies

• Entrepreneurship

• Own strategic consultancy

Top institutes offering programmes in Product Design courses