Department of Product Design launches new curriculum and minor
Starting in the Fall 2025 semester, the University of Kentucky’s Department of Product Design (PRD) will utilize a new curriculum for its Bachelor of Science program. After an extensive review of curriculum delivery in the opening years of the program, PRD faculty leveraged the strengths of the original curriculum while ensuring a more efficient, engaging, and effective educational experience for its students.
The revised curriculum features pedagogical themes for each year, all culminating in a comprehensive education that blends technical and conceptual instruction in both physical and digital product design. Year 1’s curriculum focuses on the foundational tools and mindsets that underpin both broad categories of products. Year 2’s curricular focus is on skill honing, with courses that support making and prototyping as well as advanced instruction in both physical and digital products. A vertical studio in the second-year spring allows students to develop their product design skills in a collaborative setting alongside third-year peers and students pursuing the new PRD Minor.
In the third year, students now have a dedicated semester designed for flexibility, whether that means gaining professional experience through an internship, exploring the world through study abroad, collaborating in multidisciplinary teams on campus or advancing work toward a minor. A lighter course load supports these opportunities, and students who remain on campus participate in the vertical studio model, joining a diverse cohort to tackle real-world product design projects.
The final year of the program pairs a year-long, self-directed thesis course sequence with upper-level discussions in professionalism, ethics and the business of design. Two new additions to the program’s offerings are PRD 502: Assistantship, which encourages these senior students to assist faculty in delivering courses as a peer instructor or supporting ongoing research as a student researcher, and PRD 501: Independent Study, giving students the flexibility to pursue self-directed projects in their specific area of interest.
The new curriculum is equipped with 23 required elective credit hours, encouraging students to pursue personal interests within the College of Design or across the university. These open credit hours can be used to earn a minor or to gain wide exposure to the offerings of a land-grant, Research-1 university.
Alongside the rollout of the new curriculum is the launch of the minor in Product Design, opening the doors for students across campus to get a foundational understanding of the product design process. Comprising of 19 credit hours, this minor fosters an understanding of the broad scope of product design, its influence and the processes involved in creating and launching new products. The curriculum encompasses both historical and contemporary product design practices, essential design skills and methodologies, and features a hands-on, collaborative studio environment that focuses on project-based learning.
“As we continue to hone the Product Design program, refining the curriculum allows us all to do our best work: students can be more focused and engaged while also exploring university offerings and faculty can craft more effective courses and projects that map to professional design practice,” Jonathan Mills, chair of the Department of Product Design, said. “As we expressed to our students, through these revisions we think we’re offering a better product that will serve them better as designers throughout their careers.”
View the full curriculum schedule and learn more information about the product design minor at https://design.uky.edu/academics/department-product-design.