Critical Issues in Product Design

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Modules

Courses / Modules / ARTD1172 Critical Issues in Product Design

When you'll study it

Semester 2

CATS points

ECTS points

Level

Level 4

Module lead

Daniel Hobson

Academic year

2027-28

Module overview

This module in Semester 2 enables you to critically examine contemporary debates, challenges, and contextual issues shaping product design today. You will explore sustainable practices and ecological responsibility, including circular design strategies, materials literacy, and the environmental impact of production systems. Alongside this, the module interrogates ethical design practices, issues of equity, accessibility and inclusion, and the designer’s role within wider social and global contexts. Throughout the module, you will develop the ability to analyse design through cultural, ethical, and environmental lenses, building a deeper understanding of how design both shapes and is shaped by society. Through lectures, case studies, discussions, and reflective tasks, you will evaluate how design can contribute to positive social and environmental change. The module prepares you for informed, responsible, and critically engaged design practice, equipping you with the knowledge and confidence to address real-world challenges through creative solutions.

Aims and Objectives

Learning Outcomes

Subject Specific Practical Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

Select and apply processes, materials and methods in response to sustainability and social responsibility-based problems

Transferable and Generic Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

Plan and manage your workloads to set deadlines

Knowledge and Understanding

Having successfully completed this module, you will be able to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of:

The underlying concepts and principles of contextual issues in including sustainable and ethical practices

Subject Specific Intellectual and Research Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

Identify and debate the current and emerging sustainable and ethical factors that have the potential for driving positive and constructive change

Learning and Teaching

Teaching and learning methods

Teaching and learning methods and activities may include: - Lectures - Seminars - Creative workshops and briefings - Group tutorials and discussions - One-to-one tutorials - Critical Reviews - Visual presentations - Research and concept development workshops - School resource-based learning - Peer group learning - Group critiques - Self-assessment

Study time
Type	Hours
Teaching	58
Independent Study	242
Total study time	300

Resources & Reading list

Textbooks

Fry, T (2009). Design Futuring: Sustainability, Ethics and New Practice.. Oxford: Berg.

Papanek, V. (1985). Design for the Real World: Human Ecology and Social Change. London: Thames & Hudson.

Braungart, M. and McDonough, W (2009). Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things.. London: Vintage.

Assessment

Formative

This is how we’ll give you feedback as you are learning. It is not a formal test or exam.

Presentation

Assessment Type: Formative
Feedback: You will experience formative feedback during the module in different learning situations, for example: tutorials, crits and written feedback.
Final Assessment: No
Group Work: No

Summative

This is how we’ll formally assess what you have learned in this module.

Breakdown
Method	Percentage contribution
Portfolio	100%

Referral

This is how we’ll assess you if you don’t meet the criteria to pass this module.

Breakdown
Method	Percentage contribution
Portfolio	100%

Repeat

An internal repeat is where you take all of your modules again, including any you passed. An external repeat is where you only re-take the modules you failed.

Breakdown
Method	Percentage contribution
Portfolio	100%

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