Industrial 
Product
Design

LET’S DESIGN “THINGS” BETTER

more about the programme you can find on:

IPO in Dutch

IPO in English

Interieurdesign

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Have you always been an inventor at heart? Now is your chance to transform yourself into a professional designer by following the Industrial Product Design (IPO) programme at Howest.

You will learn how to invent new solutions and optimise existing ones to improve daily life today and tomorrow. You will innovate, experiment, and design sustainable products that are beautiful, functional, and ready for production.

 

This hands-on programme combines state-of-the-art technology, technical skills and a solution-oriented approach together with your creativity. In our Industrial Design Center, you will experiment with a wide range of techniques: wood, metal and textile processing, 3D printing, laser and water jet cutting, welding, ceramics and more.

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In our makerspace and studios, you will grow step by step into a true creator who invents prototypes, tests, and fine-tunes their designs until they are ready for production. After three years, you will have mastered each step of the design process and you will be prepared to start working in companies, design agencies or as a freelancer. Before you know it, you will have your first product on the market, and maybe even your first award ...

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Programme:

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The first three semesters are the same for all students. They lay the foundation of the programme and teach you the skills that every designer must possess. You also get your first design modules. At the same time, in a number of other modules, you discover what suits you best: are you more of a designer or are you mainly interested in the production of a design? are you more of an aesthetic designer, who's most enjoying to give character to an object; or rather an agent of change who uses design as a lever for a better society, or a techie who's mainly interested in the production aspects of design? The answer will help you choose your minor in semester 4. By choosing one of the three minors, you put your own emphasis and already get a taste of the direction you want to take later on.

Each minor focuses on a different context:

 

• Industry (Design for Industry), 

• The end user (Design for Identity) 

• Society (Design for Impact).

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In the elective course Interior Design (only in Dutch) you can specialize in spatial design: you not only design interiors, but also all the objects that are part of the interior and this for a certain user. You will search for your own style and stand for sustainability & ecology. In addition to technical knowledge and skills in the field of materials, production and construction, you will use the most modern design tools (including VR) to realize your ideas. If you choose this elective, you will start from year 1.

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