Question: What GSCE grade did you get in product design?

Joanne Davies answered on 22 Mar 2012:

I have no GCSE in product design, but if you want to study product design, I would suggest maths at least for a GCSE and perhaps art.

When I studied product design however, some of the subject areas were:

History of Design Technology (This is fascinating and it’s all about product designs from the past)

Industrial Instrumentation and Control (This is about industrial machines and how they measure and how we can control processes from those measurements)

Form Shape & Colour (Art based – Includes art, 3D renderings by hand and drawing in perspective)

Mechanical Engineering Science (This is about forces, stresses, strains etc., (like physics) you can learn calculations here to work out gear shaft calculations and wear and tear on aeroplanes)

Product Design (Real product design projects where you can design and make a prototype)

Technical Specification (Technical drawing – Engineering drawings are the instructions to make a product)

Materials & Manufacturing Process Selection (How to make things, what materials and processes to use)

Industrial Studies (Product design and manufacture in industry – How they do things in the real world)

Computer Aided Engineering (This covers all the computer and software applications that help us to make products)

Design for Manufacture & Assembly (How to set up a product design company)

Mathematics (As long as you understand the basics in maths you will do well.)

CAD (Computer aided design is where you can design and animate a product on a computer and get a machine to make it for you in the workshop! :))