Degree in Industrial Design Engineering

Thus, the Degree in Industrial Design Engineering trains professionals who are skilled in all areas of knowledge, multidisciplinary work and project experience required to carry out and manage the entire life cycle of an industrial product: designing for efficiency and reducing products’ environmental impact in all stages of its life cycle. By closing the circle, these professionals become vital figures when it comes to minimising uncertainty in the project phase.

Active methodology

ELISAVA’s teaching methodology is active and is rooted in a cross-cutting process linking design and engineering — project and technology — which prepares students for ongoing learning throughout their careers. On the one hand, it is based on the vocational school concept where students learn by manipulating materials and putting in practice the technologies they learn. And on the other hand, it draws from the need to constantly foster reflection and debate on what is done.

User experience

Nowadays, understanding users and contexts in which products are used is regarded as essential in order to propose solutions in the world of design and engineering. This new way of working, of providing answers to users’ real needs, involves significant changes in the way people work, and it calls for a multidisciplinary approach. For this reason, ELISAVA engineers are trained to increase the value of products and services, their user-friendliness and their physical and functional features. In short, ELISAVA engineers know how to connect the cognitive dots and engage emotionally with users in a specific market.

Engineering programmes are specialised in:

• Training expert and competent professionals who can be involved in any of the product design and development process phases. This includes their creation or design, their subsequent technical development and their final industrialisation or mass production.
• Training professionals capable of making a new product manufacturable, ensuring that it works correctly, that it maintains an appropriate format for its function, that it is mass manufactured and that it likewise incorporates innovative elements from all standpoints: formal, functional and/or environmental.
• Training professionals equipped with the right knowledge and project experience for innovation and new product management.

All this involves becoming a professional who is engaged in the formal and creative design process, keeping in mind current trends (social, cultural, aesthetic, technological, economic and environmental). Graduates will be able to assume control of technical product development projects and ensure the technological and economic viability of a product. They will identify with the manufacturing process, keen to define the necessary technologies for manufacturing the product and optimising resources. In short, they are professionals who can improve their environment.

The third and fourth year includes compulsory subjects related to projects and other multidisciplinary subjects dealing with business, industrial processes and product programming and interaction. These contents provide students with the necessary knowledge and skills to apply strategies for innovation, management and entrepreneurship, and the new business models in the engineering and product field.

Moreover, students may select 60 ECTS of electives in order to tailor a substantial part of their studies to their personal interests. The types of electives selected will determine the specialisation on the university degree (Product Designer, Product Engineer or Product Manager).

During the last trimester of the fourth course, students will carry out their Final Degree Projects (FDP) to demonstrate their skills in product design, development, industrialisation and management.

 

PRODUCT DESIGN
Interior equipment
Tools and personal accessories
Interaction and product
Experimentation of product
Urban facilities
Mobiliary and transport

 

PRODUCT MANAGEMENT
Innovation management and continual learning project
Simulation project
Materials project

 

PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT
Packaging project
Simulation project
Materials project
Sustainability project
Energy project

 

PRODUCT DESIGN
Product communication I
Product communication II
Product communication III
Product technology I
Product technology II
Product technology III

 

PRODUCT MANAGEMENT
Product simulation I
Product simulation II
Market analysis techniques
Product and new product management
Advanced materials I
Advanced materials II

 

PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT
Product simulation I
Product simulation II
Technological integration I
Technological integration II
Advanced materials I
Advanced materials II

It is important to underscore that these professional skills are key for reducing the uncertainty in making decisions associated with investment in companies or organisations which create products. Having a direct link with the business world during their studies allows students to become familiar with the realities of what awaits them.
    
Moreover, and thanks to its extensive business network, ELISAVA boasts an excellent professional work experience programme and job pool. It is worth noting that the professional sector has very high regard for ELISAVA engineers and their capacity to create synergies between the industry logic and the economy. ELISAVA professionals are seen as highly qualified, capable of guaranteeing added value for products, prepared to contribute significantly to the development of the international market.

Once trained, Industrial Design engineers are equipped to work across a wide range of industrial sectors, among which manufacturing companies and product engineering firms are worth noting. They can also work in technical management and development engineering in the transport and mobility industry, in the biomedical and food industry, the sport industry, capital goods, and consumer goods in general. Our engineers are experts in the selection and/or substitution of material and product/project engineering. Other fields open to engineers include quality management, research departments, development and innovation — especially adding value as technology integrators, for example in wearable and/or nearable systems — and as system managers in CAD/CAE/CAM systems. They are also prepared to be part of design studios and/or work as teachers. Otherwise, they can go into business as self-employed designers and engineers.

Industrial design studies started in 1961 and industrial design engineering studies in 1997. This strategic decision bolstered the School’s long-standing academic offer. Its aim has always been to put the spotlight on interprofessionality, vital for successfully addressing the complexity involved in the process of creating, producing and consuming a product. The success of the ELISAVA project, reflected in the significant growth in the number and level of its students, is due in great part to this intense dialogue between disciplines.

Innovation

ELISAVA engineers understand design as an analytical, technical and strategic process that leads them to create an appropriate product at the right moment. They are professionals capable of addressing the demands of a highly competitive market. They take a multidisciplinary approach and are perfectly positioned to create and develop practical products which can be applied in manufacturing and contribute to the export business and competitivity in highly regulated markets.

New materials, new production processes

The great technological revolutions are occurring in IT, biotechnology, material science and nanotechnology. The best opportunities are probably to be found in the interaction between these fields. New materials being developed and new additive layer manufacturing technologies are forging a new paradigm of design and product development. The School’s approach allows engineering students to tackle these new challenges and explore ways of creating new relationships with nature. This is possible thanks to a new way of designing that starts with material and production process design to generate, develop and conceptualise new products.