So far my university experience has been everything I’d hoped for, if not more! Product design has always been a strong passion of mine which is why I knew it was something I wanted to spend four years of my life studying. After visiting numerous universities I finally fell in love with Bournemouth University and its great facilities.

The first week of the course is the induction and they arrange different activities for you to participate in, which is great as it allows you to get to know people on the course and make some friends. The first group activity is to visit certain places in Bournemouth and take photos; they group you with a couple of second years to help show you around and you’re also grouped with industrial design and engineering students who you will share some lectures with in the future. Being with the second years was really helpful as I was able to ask them questions about the first year and they also showed us some cool places to visit and nice places to eat! Here is a picture from the activity day of myself and my group:

The second week is when the hard (but enjoyable) work begins! We were again put into different groups, again with two second year students, and we were given our first design task. The brief of the task was to design something to do with water and we went off and started brainstorming ideas; this proved to be a lot more difficult than we’d first anticipated as most of the ideas we were coming up with had already been created, however by the second day of brainstorming we finally had our idea! Once we had our idea we had to sketch it, develop it, and be ready to pitch it to two of the course leaders the following Friday. This was a thoroughly enjoyable task and we benefited greatly from the experience of the second year students.

The second week is also when we started the work in our lectures and seminars and you get your first taste of what you’ll be doing for the next year.

I can honestly say I am loving my course so far, although it is challenging in certain areas I’m willing to work hard to overcome the challenges. If you’re thinking of coming to Bournemouth to study product design then think no more (I’m not biased at all), you won’t regret it! It’s a great course, the workshop facilities are excellent and you will be given all of the help and support you need to get your degree!

By India Brown

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