Bachelor of Arts (with Honours) - BA (Hons)
Here's what you will need to get a place on the Product Design with Foundation Year course at Sheffield Hallam University.
We're still busy gathering entry requirements for Product Design with Foundation Year at Sheffield Hallam University. Look out for more info soon.
Location | Fees |
---|---|
England | £9,535 per year |
Scotland | £9,535 per year |
Wales | £9,535 per year |
Northern Ireland | £9,535 per year |
Channel Islands | £9,535 per year |
Republic of Ireland | £9,535 per year |
EU | £17,155 per year |
International | £17,155 per year |
UCAS code: A009
Here's what Sheffield Hallam University says about its Product Design with Foundation Year course.
Please check the Sheffield Hallam University website for the latest information.
Course Summary
Learn the creative, practical and digital skills needed to become a professional product or service designer
Put learning into practice with leading product design brands and the opportunity to take a placement year
Collaborate with practising designers with a diverse range of experience and professional networks
Challenge convention as you learn how to contribute to a more sustainable future
If you don't meet the entry requirements for our BA (Hons) course, or you’d like extra preparation before starting degree-level study, we recommend you join the foundation year – which has been designed to encourage exploration and experimentation.
This course prepares you for an exciting career as a globally minded product or service designer. Through real-world projects and exploration of new materials and processes and systems, you’ll be equipped to identify and respond empathetically, sustainably, and collaboratively to creative opportunities and challenges.
This course also allows you to specialise in and receive a different named award – Product Design (Service Innovation) – through focused project work in your final year.
How you learn
At Sheffield Hallam, all our courses are designed to engage you with the world and challenge you to think in new ways. You’ll get to collaborate with others, and you’ll be taught in a supportive environment where you can thrive.
This foundation course brings together students across all our art and design courses as one creative community. You’ll work and learn together in a dedicated studio space and have access to our top-class facilities.
Based in our bespoke studios, workshops, and digital spaces, you’ll become part of a dynamic and collaborative learning community. Together, you’ll undertake creative adventures, explore possibilities, and challenge conventions.
You’ll engage with live creative design projects supported by external clients and industry professionals – and you’ll have opportunities to enter national and international design competitions.
We take a holistic and person-centred approach to assessment to support your creative growth while respecting the diverse ways people learn.
Key themes
Your foundation year will help you get to grips with University life as you study alongside a creative community of Art and Design students. Expect to be hands-on in the studio, learning through doing as you explore the creative process with collaborative projects, workshops and field trips.
This course focuses on insight-driven design for future-facing products, services and experiences. We recognise the responsibility we have as creators and agents for environmental sustainability. You’ll learn to be globally-minded designers, seeking out future challenges, challenging convention and embracing creative risks.
In our studio-based collaborative learning community, you’ll explore both the feasible and the conceptual, the highly technical to the hand-made – from individual products to product-service systems. You’ll gain the skills to identify and respond to future needs and opportunities using industry-standard design strategies and digital technologies. Through engaging design projects, you’ll gain key skills, techniques and principles – such as design for sustainable manufacture, new and emerging digital technologies, creative research methods, and principles of colour, material and finish.
As the course progresses, you’ll gain a deeper understanding of the ecological, social and economic factors that all designers must consider when designing for diverse audiences and contexts.
In the final year you’ll develop your own insight-driven, individual creative design project/s closely aligned to your own interests, skills and personal career aspirations.
There are a few options in how you might study Product Design with Foundation Year at Sheffield Hallam University.
Check the
2 course options available.
Qualification
Bachelor of Arts (with Honours) - BA (Hons)
Department
College of Social Sciences and Arts
Location
Main Site | Sheffield
Duration
4 Years
Study mode
Full-time including foundation year
Subjects
• Product design
Start date
September 22, 2025
Application deadline
January 29, 2025
Important notice: The structure of this course is periodically reviewed and enhanced to provide the best possible learning experience for our students and ensure ongoing compliance with any professional, statutory and regulatory body standards. Module structure, content, delivery and assessment may change, but we expect the focus of the course and the learning outcomes to remain as described above. Following any changes, updated module information will be published on this page.
You will be able to complete a placement year as part of this course. See the modules table below for further information.
Year 1
Compulsory modules
Foundation Projects — Developing Creative Practice | Coursework (100%) Foundation Skills & Methods | Coursework (100%)
Year 2
Compulsory modules
Design Essentials: Skills, Techniques And Principles | Coursework (100%) Design Interactions: Products, Services And Experiences |Coursework(100%)
Year 3
Compulsory modules
Future Now: Collaboration In Action | Coursework (100%) Professional Design Practice: Client Engagement | Coursework (100%) Sustainable Design Practice: Responsible Design | Coursework (100%)
Elective modules
Study Abroad - Creative Industries | Coursework (100%)
Year 4
Optional modules
Placement Year
Final year
Compulsory modules
Graduating Designer: Launching Your Career | Coursework (100%) Strategic Innovation: Developing Your Specialism | Coursework (100%)
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The NSS is an annual survey where final-year students are asked to rate different aspects of their course and university experience.
Here you can see ratings from Sheffield Hallam University students who took the Product Design with Foundation Year course - or another course in the same subject area.
Select an option to see a detailed breakdown
Teaching on my course
90%
med
How often does your course challenge you to achieve your best work?
92%
med
How good are teaching staff at explaining things?
96%
high
How often do teaching staff make the subject engaging?
91%
med
How often is the course intellectually stimulating?
81%
med
Learning opportunities
89%
high
To what extent have you had the chance to bring together information and ideas from different topics?
96%
high
How well does your course introduce subjects and skills in a way that builds on what you have already learned?
84%
med
How well has your course developed your knowledge and skills that you think you will need for your future?
89%
med
To what extent have you had the chance to explore ideas and concepts in depth?
95%
high
To what extent does your course have the right balance of directed and independent study?
83%
med
Assessment and feedback
92%
high
How well have assessments allowed you to demonstrate what you have learned?
97%
high
How fair has the marking and assessment been on your course?
95%
high
How often does feedback help you to improve your work?
93%
high
How often have you received assessment feedback on time?
91%
med
How clear were the marking criteria used to assess your work?
87%
high
Academic support
90%
med
How easy was it to contact teaching staff when you needed to?
88%
med
How well have teaching staff supported your learning?
91%
med
Organisation and management
88%
high
How well were any changes to teaching on your course communicated?
90%
high
How well organised is your course?
87%
high
Learning resources
88%
med
How well have the IT resources and facilities supported your learning?
85%
med
How well have the library resources (e.g., books, online services and learning spaces) supported your learning?
89%
med
How easy is it to access subject specific resources (e.g., equipment, facilities, software) when you need them?
89%
med
Student voice
90%
high
How clear is it that students' feedback on the course is acted on?
85%
high
To what extent do you get the right opportunities to give feedback on your course?
93%
high
To what extent are students' opinions about the course valued by staff?
92%
high
How well does the students' union (association or guild) represent students' academic interests?
78%
med
Other NSS questions
During your studies, how free did you feel to express your ideas, opinions, and beliefs?
97%
high
How well communicated was information about your university/college's mental wellbeing support services?
82%
med
See who's studying at Sheffield Hallam University. These students are taking Product Design with Foundation Year or another course from the same subject area.
Most popular A-levels studied | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Subject | Grade | |||||
Product Design | B | |||||
Mathematics | D | |||||
Geography | C | |||||
Physics | C | |||||
Art and Design | B |
Facts and figures about Sheffield Hallam University graduates who took Product Design with Foundation Year - or another course in the same subject area.
Graduate statistics
57%
In a job where degree was essential or beneficial
92%
In work, study or other activity
61%
Say it fits with future plans
55%
Are utilising studies
Top job areas
16%
Web and Multimedia Design Professionals
10%
Design occupations
10%
Sales occupations
8%
Business and public service associate professionals
Graduate statistics percentages are determined 15 months after a student graduates
Earnings from Sheffield Hallam University graduates who took Product Design with Foundation Year - or another course in the same subject area.
Earnings
£17.5k
First year after graduation
£21.9k
Third year after graduation
£23k
Fifth year after graduation
Shown here are the median earnings of graduates at one, three and five years after they completed a course related to Product Design with Foundation Year.
Note: this data only looks at employees (and not those who are self-employed or also studying) and covers a broad sample of graduates and the various paths they've taken, which might not always be a direct result of their degree
Students are talking about Sheffield Hallam University on The Student Room.
Welcome from the team: Aye Up! We’re Luke (he/him),Phoebe (she/her) and Yemi (she/her) - official TSR representatives for Sheffield Hallam University. We’re here to help with any questions you might have about Sheffield Hallam and student life in the city of Sheffield.
About Phoebe: 'I graduated with a BA(Honours) in Physical Education and School Sport and then graduated with a Masters in Events Management in 2021. I stayed in Sheffield to work as a Marketing Officer at Hallam and love it here.
'I enjoy living in the centre to go shopping, go out for breakfast at nice cafes. I'm also right next to a few different parks which I walk round most mornings and a short drive away from the Peak District which I also regularly visit. In the evenings I enjoy going out often to various bars, restaurants and clubs, there is a lot to choose from! There is always something new to discover in Sheffield and I’d be happy to help you with questions about what our city has to offer, as well as all the exciting facilities you’ll find at Sheffield Hallam.'
About Yemi: 'I moved to Sheffield in 2019 and started my masters in Digital Media Management at Sheffield Hallam University in 2020. Upon completing my studies, I secured the opportunity to join the university’s marketing team as a Graduate Intern.
'I love the vibrant city life on offer in Sheffield, the people are welcoming and the city in general feels like home for me. Many people move to Sheffield for their studies and tend to remain after their studies; this is what the city does to you.
'I've had the best experience studying at Sheffield Hallam University as an international student with all the various support available across the university. I like the work-life balance that is available at Hallam and in Sheffield as a city. There’s always something to look out for and something to help you unwind from your studies.'
About Luke: 'I moved to Sheffield in 2014 and graduated in 2018 with a BA (Hons) in Public Relations and Media, during my time at Hallam, I played an active role in student politics (both locally and nationally) and spent two terms as LGBT+ Students’ Representative.
+'As a ‘country boy’ living in the city, I love how Sheffield is ‘The Outdoor City’ and I regularly spend my weekends jumping between the city’s two sides, from feeding (and being climbed on by) the squirrels in the Botanical Gardens to eating and drinking my way through the city’s rich food and drink scene. Sheffield is the city that has it all, and I am on hand to answer any questions you have about the city, life at Hallam and what support is available for students (especially LGBTQ+ students).'
We look forward to answering your questions! Luke, Phoebe and Yemi :)
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