Objectives

The Bachelor’s Degree Programme in Design – historically rooted in the culture of know-how and project-based learning – aims to train designers, professionals capable of critically combining knowledge from the humanities with that of the technical and scientific culture throughout all the stages of the project (conception, development, and realisation) of both tangible and intangible artefacts. In addition to methodological knowledge for project development, students also acquire the instrumental skills needed for proper contextualisation and implementation, taking into account the constraints and resources of the production system.

At the end of the programme, graduates will be able to manage the various stages of the design process both on the cultural and conceptual level – through the interpretation and critical understanding of needs, behaviours, and socio-cultural and economic aspects – and on the technical and operational level, in terms of productive, technological-constructive, functional, formal, and usability features. Furthermore, they will be capable of assessing the relationships that such products establish with the spatial-environmental context, with industry and the market, with communication, and with integrated systems of product, communication, and service.

Upon completion of the programme, graduates will be able to develop design solutions in the three main areas of design, in particular:

  • Industrial product design, with the ability to conceive and develop tangible products designed for people and responsive to market needs, managing their functional, formal, technical, aesthetic, communicative, and productive characteristics.
  • Visual and multimedia communication design, with the ability to develop intangible products in their main aspects, such as graphic and editorial communication, branding, product communication and wayfinding, multimedia, and interactive installations.
  • Interior and public design, with the ability to conceive and develop projects for the design of components for interior spaces (interior design) and public spaces (hospitality, catering, workplaces, domestic living, museums, trade fair stands, retail environments, entertainment spaces), as well as urban public spaces (playgrounds, urban furniture, tactical design, etc.).

The training model adopted is inductive, based on a process structured through the synergic collaboration between lecturers and students, designed to develop both foundational knowledge (historical-humanistic and technical-professional) and design and implementation skills.

Specifically, the learning path is structured as follows:

First Year

  • First semester: focused on acquiring fundamental knowledge in the field of technological training, scientific training, and cultures, methodologies, and practices of design, interior set-up, and multimedia communication, as well as knowledge centred on the history of contemporary art, drawing, and representation.
  • Second semester: dedicated to the acquisition of basic design methodology through training in: cultures, methodologies, and practices of design, interior set-up, and multimedia communication (design studios); technological and engineering disciplines (knowledge of materials and production/transformation technologies, drawing and representation); economic and social sciences (introduction to the conceptualisation of ideas considering constraints and user needs). The semester concludes with verification of English language proficiency.

Second Year

  • First semester: focused, on the one hand, on strengthening technical/scientific tools (technological training dedicated to advanced materials with an emphasis on sustainability requirements, and technological and engineering disciplines applied to drawing and representation); and, on the other hand, on tools related to the historical-humanistic culture, with particular reference to design (cultures, methodologies, and practices of design, interior set-up, and multimedia communication).
  • Second semester: focused on basic training in design across the three main areas (product/visual communication/interior & public design), in connection with technological training, cultures, methodologies, and practices of design, interior set-up, and multimedia communication, and technological and engineering disciplines (applied to structural design).

Third Year

  • First semester: dedicated, through economic and social sciences, to an understanding of the Italian business system and the Made in Italy sector, also aimed at encouraging entrepreneurship and strengthening design skills applied to contemporary challenges (integrative courses in the fields of economic history, performing arts disciplines, multimedia drawing and representation, sociology and communication, industrial design, interior architecture, etc.). Students will also be able to personalise their curriculum by selecting optional courses from those available, in order to explore in depth the relationship with other disciplinary and professional skills and, more generally, with the broader innovation process in which design plays a role of connection and synthesis.
  • Second semester: dedicated to the preparation of the final thesis, bringing together: credits earned through elective courses chosen from the wide range of subjects offered across the University; credits related to activities useful for entering the world of work, namely those formative activities that contribute to achieving specific learning outcomes (such as internships, placements, company visits, seminars, and thematic workshops organised and/or authorised by the Degree Programme), in connection with professional opportunities in product design, visual and multimedia communication, and interior & public design.