ENGR 2026 Design Semantics: Exploring Product Form
Credit Points 10
Legacy Code 301289
Coordinator Karen Yevenes Opens in new window
Description Products can engage our senses to evoke an emotional response or mediate an experience. This is a powerful psychological tool for industrial designers to understand in terms of the design interface as it provides a strategic opportunity for innovation. In this subject students will create meaningful and active product relationships, and use product semantics as an agency for proposing design solutions in areas such as health and well-being, ageing populations, and sustainable design.
School Eng, Design & Built Env
Discipline Other Engineering And Related Technologies
Student Contribution Band HECS Band 2 10cp
Check your fees via the Fees page.
Level Undergraduate Level 2 subject
Equivalent Subjects ENGR 2006 - Design Studio 1 Themes and Variations ENGR 2008 - Design Studio 3 Design Process and Function
Assumed Knowledge
Students will be required to have basic workshop skills and/or model-making skills. A basic understanding of graphics software, for example Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator, is assumed.
Learning Outcomes
- Apply the principles of product semantics as a strategy for creating innovative product solutions.
- Develop a design brief to address a design problem.
- Create 2D concepts and 3D prototype models to communicate a design proposal.
- Validate the product design through testing and evaluation of the designed solution.
- Apply professional practice and team collaboration in the context of a design project.
Subject Content
Investigation of key sub-topics and their impact on product form and features: Affordances and signifiers; Design Activism; Kansei Engineering; gender and product design; stereotype; behavioural change; ergonomics and semantics; relationships with objects; people centred design
Psychology and design opportunity
The product interface and ?eease of use?f
Manufactured details
Development of the Design Brief
Concept graphics to communicate a design solution
Exploratory model-making to investigate product language
Assessment
The following table summarises the standard assessment tasks for this subject. Please note this is a guide only. Assessment tasks are regularly updated, where there is a difference your Learning Guide takes precedence.
| Type | Length | Percent | Threshold | Individual/Group Task | Mandatory |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Applied Project | 1 x A4 Written document (1500 words) | 10 | N | Individual | N |
| Applied Project | 3 x A3 Annotated Graphic compositions; 1 x A3 Process Diary (30 pages); | 40 | N | Individual | N |
| Portfolio | 1 x A3 set of detail drawings; 1 x Full scale model | 50 | N | Both (Individual & Group) | Y |
Teaching Periods
Autumn (2024)
Parramatta City - Macquarie St
On-site
Subject Contact Karen Yevenes Opens in new window
View timetable Opens in new window
Autumn (2025)
Parramatta City - Macquarie St
On-site
Subject Contact Karen Yevenes Opens in new window