1st Edition

Product Design for Students

By Peter Barker Copyright 2026
210 Pages 37 Color & 4 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

210 Pages 37 Color & 4 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

210 Pages 37 Color & 4 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

Product Design for Students covers the basic concepts and processes intrinsic to professional industrial product design: from the initial design concept through design for manufacture, sustainable production, distribution, marketing and recycling of the product at the end of its life. User research, concept generation techniques, design process methodologies, the use of design thinking,... Read more

Part 1 Product design

1. What is Product Design and Why Do We Do It?? 

2. Design Research 

3. How to generate new product designs effectively

4. Design Modelling and Prototyping 

5. Design Presentations 

6. Materials and Manufacturing, Process Selection and Specification  

7. Production and Manufacture   

8. Marketing and distribution

9. Product Design in its Contexts

10. Human Factors

11. Interviews and case studies

Part 2: How to get started in Product Design

Biography

Peter Barker is an experienced product designer and academic. He currently holds the post of Senior Lecturer in Product Design Technology at the University of the West of England in Bristol, UK.
He started his career working as technical assistant to Dr Alex Moulton, the originator of the revolutionary Moulton bicycle plus Moulton rubber suspension systems for cars and other road vehicles. Then moving on to product design consultancy for manufacturers in the United Kingdom, Europe and the United States, Peter had his design work exhibited in London, Zurich and Chicago. Peter’s design work won awards for clients in several industries including leisure accessories, access equipment and metrology.
A second career as a design academic at leading design universities located in California, Great Britain and Europe also led to success with many of Peter’s students now practising as leading product designers themselves. With both industrial and educational experience, Peter Barker is ideally placed to write this introductory textbook for aspiring product designers Product Design for Students. Peter Barker is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and an Associate Member of the Guild of Motoring Writers.