Whether you want to design furniture, travel accessories, health and wellbeing items, shoes, or sustainable packaging, demonstrate your creative flair, imagination, capability, and career goals so you can produce the perfect personal statement.
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Think about why you want to study the subject
- Have you been inspired by someone, a news story, a documentary, or a podcast?
- Do you have career aspirations in this area of study?
- What interests you about the subject – be specific; rather than saying you enjoy it or are good at it, try to explain the ‘why’ behind your reasoning.
- What do you already know about the subject and what are you looking forward to learning more about?
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What makes you suitable to study the subject?
- Have you done projects or essays in this subject at school or college?
- Think about who you are as a person; your personality, your strengths, your experiences in life – how do these make you suited to study the subject?
- How have you shown an interest in the subject outside of school or college – have you done extra reading, online courses, been part of clubs or competitions?
- Your current subjects and grades will be included elsewhere in your application, so try to think about specific things you’ve learned during your studies that relate to the subject, rather than listing your grades and subjects.
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Look at the bigger picture
- Have you done any work experience, an internship or had a part-time job in this subject area or related? Most job or work experience will give you transferable skills, even if it’s in a different industry.
- Do you have any hobbies you can mention that might relate to your chosen subject? Many hobbies show that you can be motivated outside of school to achieve and succeed in something you’re interested in.
- Think about how your life and personal experiences have helped make you the person you are today, and how these challenges and experiences can support your application by evidencing essential qualities for certain subjects.
- If you’ve got ambitions and goals for your life and career, can you express how this subject will help you reach these goals?
Guidance and examples you can use
Question 1: Why do you want to study this course or subject?
This is your opportunity to showcase your passion and knowledge of your chosen subject area and to demonstrate to universities and colleges why it’s a good fit for you and your future ambitions.
Examples:
- Think of what first sparked your interest in product design. Perhaps an upgraded version of a toy or tablet you own was released and you saw first-hand how effective product design can improve user experience. Or maybe you’ve always enjoyed tinkering with things, and you’ve created and improved a storage system or electronic item at home.
- Mention articles you’ve read or products you’ve experienced and elaborate on what’s inspired you. Perhaps you can critique the user interface (UI) on an Apple iPhone compared to an Android? Or maybe you’ve read about how electric vehicle (EV) design has evolved and it’s made you want to get involved.
- If you have a particular goal in mind, mention what you plan to do with your degree, whether you want to work on sustainable design, energy-saving devices, or products for space exploration!
Question 2: How have your qualifications and studies helped you to prepare for this course or subject?
This is your chance to shout about the relevant or transferable skills you’ve gained from your formal education and highlight your understanding of how they will help you succeed in this subject area.
Examples:
- Explain how studying subjects like engineering, maths, design technology, or sciences has helped with your analytical and critical thinking skills, planning, and innovation.
- If you’ve done an EPQ that relates to product design, explain how and what you learned. You may have studied art or design technology, for example, and learned something new about plastics or electronics that has inspired your interest in product design.
- Give examples of your design, drawing, and sketching skills too – whether through a hobby you do at home, your studies, or an extracurricular or supercurricular club you’re part of.
- Have you done any online courses to boost your knowledge in the subject? For example, why not try Subject Spotlights or Virtual Work Experiences from Springpod to grow your skills and interest?
Question 3: What else have you done to prepare outside of education, and why are these experiences useful?
This is your chance to talk about any other activities you have undertaken outside of your formal education, or personal experiences which further demonstrate your suitability for the course. This section is likely to be highly personal to you and anything you do include should reflect on why you’re including it.
Examples:
- Write about any product design you’ve already done – from designing a hamster run to a skate ramp! If you’ve workshadowed an engineer, designer or manufacturer, write about what you got from that experience.
- Mention any exhibitions or shows you’ve been to. For example, you may have learned more about user experience (UX) at Product Design Week, or prototypes at the Design Museum.
- If you’ve had a part-time or weekend job, reflect on the skills you’ve picked up that will help you during this degree, such as client and customer service skills, quality control, problem-solving, and negotiation.
- Similarly, reflect on any extracurricular achievements that demonstrate good teamwork, time management, and motivation – that could be through a sport or drama club, volunteering, or achieving a high grade in a musical instrument.
- Do relate any examples back to the subject you’re applying to – make it relevant
- Do make it personal – admissions staff want to get to know who you are
- Do use a spell-checker and grammar-checker to ensure there are no errors
- Do ask people for feedback, whether that’s family members or teachers
- Do your research to find out what universities are looking for, and make sure you include evidence to show how you are suitable for the course
- Don’t just list out examples, subjects you study, or experiences you’ve had without any evidence
- Don’t copy something you’ve seen online or use AI to write something for you
- Don’t make things up just because you think they’ll make you look good on paper
- Don’t leave it until the last minute – you need time for several drafts
- Don’t worry about making each section the same length; as long as you hit the minimum character count, you can use the 4,000 characters across each answer in the way that suits you best
How to set yourself apart
Admissions tutors want to know something unique about you, and ideally how that relates to a product design degree. If you’ve always loved building models, expand on your process – for example, you may have started with cereal boxes and sellotape, and progressed to cardboard packaging and glue because they hold better. Or maybe you found lollipop sticks provide better structure than wooden kebab sticks?
What’s your motivation for taking this course? If you’re really passionate about the environment and sustainability, explain how you hope to use your product design skills to reduce our use of plastics or develop more eco-friendly coffee cups. Perhaps you’re keen to develop accessibility aids for people with disabilities that are aesthetically pleasing as well as useful.
Refer to any relevant work experience you’ve had, open days or taster days you’ve been to, and product design awards you’ve entered or won.
Don’t worry if you’ve not had specific product design experience
Write about your hobbies too – whether you enjoy swimming, surfing, or sewing – and some of the skills they’ve taught you, such as motivation and perseverance.
If you can, relate what you’re saying in your statement answers back to something you’ve read on newdesign or Design Week, watched on YouTube, or seen during a TED Talk.
Some more tips to consider
- Research the course: Why do you want to study product design, what specific aspects of the course interest you, how does it relate to your academic studies, and what additional reading or other activities have led you to apply?
- Creativity and innovation: Can you show you’re a 'self-starter' who enjoys trying to solve complex problems, or come up with creative solutions? Product design can require patience and perseverance, so demonstrate you have the ability and motivation to complete this course.
- Make your work experience count: It’s not just what you've done but how you've reflected on it. If you workshadowed at a design company or any business, that’s great, but it won’t have an impact unless you spell out what you personally gained from it.
- Transferable skills: Mention things like a part-time job, caring for a family member, or other interests, responsibilities, or extracurricular activities, and draw out the transferable skills you’ve learned from them, like time management, project management, teamwork, and leadership.