Product Design BS
Degree Awarded: Bachelor of Science (BS)
Minimum Required Credits: 121
Co-op Option(s): One Co-op, No Co-op
Classification of Instructional Programs (CIP) code: 11.0105
Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) code: 27-1021
About the Program
The Product Design program at Drexel University prepares students to be creators in a changing world that requires thoughtful, sustainable, and ethical products alongside creative and innovative solutions. Design is not only problem-solving but also problem-finding: the creative act of discovering what matters to people and shaping the material world around those insights. In our program, young designers become thinker-makers—people who learn through both reflection and making.
Rooted in Drexel’s maker culture, the program brings together art, engineering, technology, psychology, and business into a human-centered design education that is thoughtful, forward thinking, and hands-on. Students learn to navigate every stage of product creation from research and concept development to prototyping, testing, and fabrication while grounding their work in empathy, sustainability, and social impact.
Learning happens through making in collaborative spaces built for experimentation and shared learning: the Hybrid Making Lab, the Prod Make Lab, the Smart Product Lab, and the Empathic Co-Design Lab. Whether 3D printing a prototype, crafting furniture from reclaimed materials, or developing an app-linked wearable device, our students are challenged to work iteratively and fearlessly at the intersection of craft, technology, and human experience.
Product Design students partner with peers and faculty across many disciplines, ranging from biomedical engineering and studio art to digital media. Collaboratively, they address real-world challenges in areas such as health, mobility, repairability, and community resilience. Drexel’s co-op program extends the studio into the workplace, giving students a full year of industry experience to deepen their perspective, strengthen their practice, and inform future goals. Our students also engage in international experiences, local community projects, and professional partnerships.
Graduates emerge as creative professionals who pair critical insight with technical fluency, capable of designing products, systems, and experiences that improve lives and expand possibilities. Alumni work in consumer products, furniture and lighting, wearable technology, transportation, medical devices, interaction, design research, and launch their own ventures or pursue advanced study. They graduate with a designer’s mindset; adaptable, curious, and resilient, prepared for today’s roles but also for the evolving opportunities that will define the future.
Product Design at Drexel is for those who believe design can do more than make things; it can make meaning, harness joy, and bring about change.
Additional Information
For more information about this program, please contact the Antoinette Westphal College of Media Arts and Design.
Degree Requirements
| University Requirements | ||
| EXP 1001 | Introduction to Experiential Learning | 3.0 |
| WRIT 1100 | Composition and Rhetoric I | 3.0 |
| or WRIT 1110 | English Composition I | |
| WRIT 1200 | Composition and Rhetoric II | 3.0 |
| or WRIT 1210 | English Composition II | |
| Introductory Core Competencies 1 | ||
| Select one course from each of the three (3) categories | 6.0 | |
Introductory: Inquire and Analyze | ||
Introductory: Collaborate and Integrate | ||
Introductory: Apply and Engage-satified by Making and Storytelling-Creative Process in the College Requirements below | ||
| Free Electives | 15.0 | |
| College Requirements | ||
| Select one course from each of the three (3) categories of Westphal College Courses | ||
| Visual and Information Literacy | 3.0 | |
| Making and Storytelling-Creative Process | 3.0 | |
| Global and Cultural Histories | 3.0 | |
| Program Requirements | ||
| Degree Requirements outside of Program | ||
| Studio Art and Art History Requirements | ||
| ARST 1001 | Design Foundations A | 3.0 |
| ARST 1005 | Design Foundations B | 3.0 |
| ARST 1100 | Introductory Drawing | 3.0 |
| Math and Science Requirements | ||
| MATH 1001 | Mathematical Tools and Techniques | 4.0 |
| MSE 1020 | Modern Materials in Your World | 3.0 |
| PHYS 1001 | Conceptual Physics | 3.0 |
| PSY 1001 | Introduction to Psychology | 3.0 |
| Degree Requirements inside of Program | ||
| Product Design Studios | ||
| PROD 2010 | Product Design Studio I | 3.0 |
| PROD 2020 | Product Design Studio II | 3.0 |
| PROD 3010 | Advanced Product Design Studio 2 | 6.0 |
| PROD 4998 | Product Design Capstone Studio I | 3.0 |
| PROD 4999 | Product Design Capstone Studio II | 3.0 |
| History, Theory, Research | ||
| PROD 1001 | Introduction to Product Design | 3.0 |
| PROD 2050 | History of Product Design | 3.0 |
| PROD 3015 | Understanding Human Factors | 3.0 |
| PROD 3989 | Design Research Methods for Product Design | 3.0 |
| PROD 4015 | Design Ethics and Circularity | 3.0 |
| Skill Building | ||
| PROD 2005 | Design Drawing and Visualization | 3.0 |
| PROD 2015 | Making and Materials | 3.0 |
| PROD 2025 | Digital Techniques for Product Design | 3.0 |
| PROD 3005 | Materials and Processes | 3.0 |
| PROD 3025 | Digital Techniques for Production | 3.0 |
| PROD 3059 | Topics in Advanced Skills of Product Design | 3.0 |
| Professional Practice | ||
| PROD 4005 | Product Design Professional Practice | 3.0 |
| PROD 4025 | Product Design Showcase | 3.0 |
| Electives | ||
| Select one of the following: | 3.0 | |
| Speaker Making | ||
| Aging, Design, and Healing | ||
| Design for Manufacturing | ||
| Food and Design | ||
| Wearable Product Design | ||
| Smart Product Design | ||
| Design and Climate Futures | ||
| Speculative Product Design | ||
| Optional Co-op Experience | ||
| Co-op is an option for this degree for full-time on-campus students. Co-op cycles may vary. Students choosing this option will be required to complete COOP 1001 as preparation for their co-op experience. COOP 1001 registration is determined by the co-op cycle assigned. | 0.0 | |
| Total Credits | 121.0 | |
- 1
A complete list of eligible introductory Core Competency courses can be found here.
- 2
Course is repeatable for credit. Major requirement is to take the course two times.
Program Learning Outcomes
1. Problem Solving: Upon completion of this program, students will be able to solve problems with purpose and empathy by applying human-centered design methods—including ethnographic research, ergonomics, and ethical reasoning to create products and systems that respond meaningfully to human needs and contexts.
2. Making: Upon completion of this program, students will be able to think through making by utilizing drawing, physical prototyping, and digital modeling as tools for exploration, iteration, and reflection, developing both conceptual clarity and material fluency.
3. Communication: Upon completion of this program, students will be able to communicate ideas clearly and authentically by presenting and documenting their work through effective visual, verbal, and written communication, articulating the intent, process, and impact of their design decisions.
4. Skill Building: Upon completion of this program, students will be able to integrate technology, craft, and production by demonstrating competence in the tools, technologies, and manufacturing processes that bring design ideas to life, from traditional making methods to advanced digital fabrication and visualization.
5. Collaboration: Upon completion of this program, students will be able to collaborate with industry and community in the classroom, with professional partners, and beyond—to produce responsible, interdisciplinary, innovative, ethical, and sustainable design outcomes.
6. Analyze, Sythnesize, Reflect: Upon completion of this program, students will be able to reflect, synthesize, and develop a design philosophy while navigating the complexity of the design process in connecting design theory, history, and critical thinking to create an informed personal philosophy and point of view. Graduates will demonstrate an awareness of design’s evolving role in shaping culture, behavior, and the built world.
7. Critical Reasoning: Upon completion of this program, students will be able to apply and creatively integrate mathematics, basic science, and social science to show evidence of critical reasoning, critical inquiry, and to validate design decisions. The incorporation and demonstrated understanding of core concepts, methods, skills, and analysis are key components in research, concept development, and detail design.