Design Foundation Year

Core units

This Foundation Year will give you a grounding in Design through the following core units – building your confidence, knowledge and skills for further study. After successful completion of the Foundation Year, you will progress to a full degree – skip to a list of courses that offer this Foundation Year.

• Introduction to Computer-Aided Design: This unit has been designed to enable you to use Computer Aided Design (CAD) tools to create basic 3D solid models and assemblies and to produce technical drawings. CAD tools are used in industry to communicate ideas and solutions and are therefore a fundamental skill for designers and engineers.
• Human-centred Design Projects: This unit will see you undertake a series of human-centered design projects. These could be products that have key objectives that are mainly psychological, aesthetic or ergonomic in nature. This unit will provide you with the skills you need to create innovative and creative design solutions.
• Technological Design Projects: This unit will see you undertake the development of a series of technological and functionally orientated design challenges whilst utilising a structured creative process. This unit will introduce to you the necessary skills needed to create design solutions to technical and/or technologically driven problems or criteria.
• Academic Study Skills for Engineering and Technology: You will gain the fundamental academic and research skills required for degree level study. The unit will introduce you to a broad grounding in research, literature review, data collection/analysis and ethical practice. It will also support you to begin to develop a critical and analytical approach to your work and identify areas for personal development.