The core elements of industrial design education at METU Department of Industrial Design are the design studio courses and the open jury system. Taking 12 hours per week each semester, design studio courses aim to deliver professional education via hands-on practice. These are conducted in the four design studios, one for each year of studio education, where every student has their own workspace. Each semester students are expected to carry out a number of design projects, increasing in complexity as students progress through the program. Each project is concluded in an open jury where completed projects are evaluated by a jury composed of department members and professionals from the industry.
First Year
The first year is dedicated to Basic Design, where students are introduced to the basic concepts of design, visual thinking, the nature of different materials and structural principles.
Second Year
The second year Industrial Design studios are concerned with issues of innovation, styling, redesign and human-product interaction. Design projects at this stage focus on the functional requirements of products, while introducing systematic thinking and scenario building.
Third Year
The third year Industrial Design studios regularly collaborate with industry partners, communities and civil society organizations for projects that foreground sustainability criteria and participatory practices. Developing an individual design approach, style and context-awareness are educational objectives at this stage.
Fourth Year
Other Courses
The design studio courses are accompanied by compulsory courses that provide students with in-depth technical and theoretical knowledge and skills. The curriculum includes courses on visualization and modelling techniques, covering freehand drawing, technical drawing, model making and computer-aided 3D modelling; and theoretical courses on elementary physics, structures, materials, manufacturing techniques, ergonomics and user research, marketing, design management, design history, and cultural and critical aspects of design. The curriculum also includes an extensive range of hands-on and theoretical elective courses that offer specific skills, knowledge and experience, from jewellery design to multimedia design. In addition, students are required to carry out summer practices in manufacturing companies and professional design offices.
The program provides students with design skills and knowledge to cope with diverse problem areas in industrial design without being restricted to fields of specialization. Our graduates are proficient at creatively defining and solving problems, planning and managing the design process, and conducting design-centred research, with an awareness of and sensitivity towards sociocultural and technological contexts.
For up to date curriculum information: https://catalog.metu.edu.tr/program.php?fac_prog=125
ID 290
Elementary Workshop Practice and Computer Literacy in Design
ID290 Summer Practice is organized by the Department of Industrial Design for first year students. The aim of the summer practice is to equip the students with the necessary knowledge, skills and experience of basic model making techniques, Computer Aided Design software and digital modeling, and the safe and effective use of the model making workshop.
ID290 Summer Practice takes 6 weeks. The first four weeks of the summer practice are dedicated to hands-on model making by diverse materials and techniques in the Faculty Model Making Workshop. The remaining two weeks cover the use of Computer Aided Design software in the Faculty Computer Lab.
ID 390
Summer Practice in a Production Establishment and Computer Literacy in Design
ID390 Summer Practice targets the second year students and takes 6 weeks. At the first two weeks following the end of the fourth semester, the students attend lectures and workshops on digital 3D modelling. Students are required to spend the remaining four weeks making observations on manufacturing processes in a manufacturing company or establishment, and present their observations and experience in the form of a report to the Department.