Are Product Design Degrees Worth It?

New and exciting products are the cornerstone of any growing business. To stay relevant and on-trend, all while surviving highly competitive markets, companies need to understand their customers and create seamless products. It’s the responsibility of talented product designers to handle this whole process.

Product designers are creative professionals that perform market research, identify customer needs, generate product ideas, develop prototype products, validate ideas, supervise user testing, build final products, and update existing products. They’re essential to any product-based business and aim to solve problems, reduce costs, and make a profit for the company. Most importantly, product designers keep customers happy.

By playing such a pivotal role in the success or failure of a company, good product designers are highly sought-after within the business community. As a result, careers in product design provide excellent job prospects and high salaries.

If you’re a creative problem-solver with an eye for design, a career in this space should be perfect for you. This article will discuss how you can get started and ask the question: are product design degrees worth it? We’ll also cover alternative, more focused design-based education programs that might suit you better.

Types of Product Design Degrees

Bachelor’s Degree in Product Design

Many universities and institutions around the world offer bachelor's degrees in product design. Pursuing a bachelor’s degree is the traditional route taken for many aspiring product designers. A bachelor’s degree from a well-recognized university is respected globally.

Product design bachelor’s degrees teach a wide range of skills necessary to carry projects from the initial concept to the final end-product. You’ll learn fundamental concepts of product design, tools and techniques used, prototyping, CAD, mechanical and digital production systems, and the study of materials.

To give you a better idea of what’s involved, here’s a list of some universities offering product design degrees:

Bachelor of Science in Product Design from Stanford University

Offered by the university’s mechanical engineering department, the program follows the curriculum of mechanical engineering, with additional course work in studio art and psychology. The course concentrates on design thinking, visual thinking tools and rapid prototyping to foster innovation. The designers graduating with a Stanford University degree can synthesize business and technological factors to frame new product systems.

Duration: 4 years

Cost: $80,000

Bachelor of Arts in Product Design from NewSchool of Architecture and Design

The mission of this program is to shape students into professional designers and prepare them for real-world projects in global markets. The program will equip you with strategic and creative thinking abilities. After graduation, you’ll be ready for an entry-level position at a design and manufacturing company where you’ll be able to solve challenging design problems.

Duration: 4 years

Cost: $ 23,000

Bachelor of Design in Industrial Design from The University of Illinois

This program trains students to bring together aspects of material and conceptual fabrication to create product systems. Most importantly, the program focuses on user-centricity and optimal product vision as the main principles to be followed while creating products and services.

Duration: 4 years

Cost: $ 49,000

Bachelor of Science in Product Design and Manufacturing Engineering from Wichita State University

This program concentrates on systems engineering, product engineering, computer-aided design, supply chain and analytics, manufacturing quality, and productivity. If you envisage a career in product design and manufacturing, the bachelor’s program from Wichita State University is a good choice for your career.

Duration: 4 years.

Cost: $ 16,800

Master’s Degree in Product Design

A master’s degree encourages students to specialize in a specific domain of study, and there are plenty of options if you want to earn a master's in product design. A product design master’s degree will provide a deeper understanding of design concepts and can enhance your earning potential.

There are several universities that offer master’s degrees in product design.

Master of Fine Arts in Industrial Design from Rochester Institute of Technology

The curriculum is project-oriented, which requires students to conduct extensive research in design technologies and methodologies. The program encourages cross-disciplinary collaborations, providing students with in-demand design knowledge, and abundant opportunities for career advancement.

Enroll in this program if you're looking to learn valuable product design skills from scratch.

Duration: 2 years.

Cost: $ 49,709

Master of Fine Arts in Industrial Design from Parsons School of Design | The New School

This is an innovative program designed to prepare students to negotiate the apparently paradoxical forces at play in the design industry. Students learn how to produce goods in localized as well as global contexts.

Duration:  2 years.

The Master of Fine Arts in Lighting Design from Parsons School of Design | The New School

Parsons was the first to come up with a program in Lighting Design. The school has been training leaders in this field for the last three decades. The curriculum concentrates on the relationship among theory, technicalities, energy conservation, socio-economic and environmental aspects of natural as well as artificial (electric) light.

This course is ideal if you want to specialize in this niche area of product design.

Duration: 2 years.

Master of Arts in Decorative Arts & Design History from Columbian College of Arts and Sciences | George Washington University

The program curriculum is based on cultural and historical design topics. Students gain expertise in the history of material culture, architecture, and interiors. The program also offers internships with historical organizations, which help shape students for a career in decorative product design.

Duration: 2 years

Can You Become a Product Designer Without a Degree?

if your goal is to become a product designer, there’s no formal requirement to hold a degree. Some employers may even prefer alternative education, with focus on hands-on learning and relevant skills training.

Degrees have a fixed curriculum and last 4 years, which means they can sometimes be slow to keep up with changing design trends. Students enrolling in more focused programs demonstrate they’re highly motivated in product design and have clearly defined career goals.

Alternatives to a Degree in Product Design

Product Design Certifications

You don't need a degree to excel in this field: you can enroll in an online product design course or certificate program to learn the skills you need.

Certification programs give you the opportunity to validate your skills in a particular field. Compared to degrees, they are much more affordable and can be completed within weeks. They’re generally suited more to existing professionals that need a refresher, rather than beginners that want to learn from scratch.

Having a product design certificate proves your competency and shows that you’re committed to the profession. A certification also aids in career advancement and demonstrates to prospective employers that you’re keeping up with design trends and staying relevant.

Some popular product design certifications include:

• Innovation Through Design: Think, Make, Break, Repeat by The University of Sydney
• Running Product Design Sprints by the University of Virginia
• Introduction to User Experience Design by Georgia Institute of Technology
• UX/UI Design Bootcamp, Thinkful

Career-Oriented Product Design Bootcamps

Bootcamps are fast-paced learning programs designed to teach students everything they need to land a well-paid job. They’re perfect for individuals with a clear career direction in mind. Unlike a 4-year degree program, product design bootcamps focus on only the necessary design skills. This makes them a more affordable, more focused, and faster-paced alternative to degrees.

To kickstart your career enroll in our UX/UI design bootcamp. It’s put together by experienced professionals to streamline your learning.

Next Steps

Hopefully, you now better understand your options, and are ready to become the next Steve Jobs (one step at a time). To prep for your career ahead, check out our product design blog, where you’ll find other articles on the subject of UX and UI design. You’ll hear first-hand accounts from professional designers, such as one of our mentors who also works as a UX designer for Apple.