Do you have the Gado in industrial design engineering ? Would you like to specialise in product or service design? Today we’re focusing on what you need to study to become a product and service designer: the blended-learning Master’s in Product and Service Design. It’s the best way to develop a well-rounded profile that combines both areas.
Becoming a product designer or product designer means having the creativity and the necessary tools to create three-dimensional designs for objects. To this end, these highly qualified professionals take into account not only the product’s appearance but also its functionality, materials, costs, technical requirements and production methods.
It is creativity and innovation in its purest form, used to design and create new products, as well as to improve existing ones, whilst ensuring that factors such as functionality, aesthetics, technology and economic considerations are integrated.
On the other hand, when discussing service design or service design , we are referring to the activity of planning and organising people, infrastructure, communication and the material components of a service, with the aim of improving both the quality and the interaction between the service provider and its customers. In short, it serves to define changes to an existing service or to create a new one.
Naturally, this form of design is used to address a person’s interactions when these take place outside the digital sphere, and does not encompass what is known as interactive design.
Bearing in mind the points mentioned above, we can deduce that a product designer may define the configuration of a product, but cannot in the same way define the outcome of the interaction between customers and service providers, nor the form and characteristics of any emotional value generated by the service. This is why service design comes into play at this point, by virtue of which patterns of behaviour or scripts are proposed to the actors interacting within the service.
Product designer: roles and professional profile
If you choose to study the Master’s in Product and Service Design, you will have the opportunity to delve deeper into the most advanced technological knowledge in product design engineering, design for user-centred innovation (UX), the management and development of new business models, as well as developing creative skills, Design Thinking and graphic representation skills that integrate virtual reality and user interface (UI) design.
As a designer, you will need to adapt to the demands of today’s businesses and Industry 4.0, and you will need to use cutting-edge CAD-CAM-CAE tools that enable you to represent, visualise and simulate a product’s behaviour to ensure the viability and correct functioning of the final product.
In the future, you will be a professional in comprehensive design, capable of generating holistic solutions that respond to new business models. Are you up for the challenge?