BH104 - Bachelor of Industrial Design (Honours)

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Plan: BH104P15 - Bachelor of Industrial Design (Honours)
Campus: City Campus

Program delivery and structure

Approach to learning and assessment
Work integrated learning
Program structure
Program transition plan

Approach to learning and assessment

The four year full-time Bachelor of Industrial Design (Honours) program gives significant scope to explore established and emerging disciplinary domains via four core study streams.

The Design Studies and Professional Practice stream explores the contemporary industrial design landscape, its histories, theories, methods and issues. The Specialist Knowledge and Skills stream provides practical and theoretical learning in methods of design visualization, representation and communication, and the material, manufacturing and technological constructs of Industrial Design practice. The Design Studio stream, which sits as the central and connective element of the curriculum, provides a diverse suite of applied, industry linked and research integrated design project experiences. Through these 'projects' the dimensions of particular needs and problems, in specific situations and contexts, are teased out in order to propose new and better alternatives through design. The Honours year courses provide a space for undertaking a large self-directed design research project and the articulation of the breadth and depth of that project in a variety of the forms. 

The first year provides foundational exposures to the methods and nature of the designed form to the sociocultural factors of design and designing. The second year sees an increase of the technical, technological, and contextual complexity by which design activity and its implications are to be considered and provides avenues of choice in industrial design practice. The third year significantly defines individual design capabilities and interests. The fourth, and final year of the program provides the challenge of defining and demonstrating an area of professional engagement through a year-long, research-led and industry engaged design project.

Here, the many meanings, purposes of, and orientations to design are privileged: as an enabler of social reform and cultural enrichment; as a means of creative response to the issues and opportunities of sustainability; as a way of intervening in the problems of rapid technological advancement and the increasingly blurred intersections of our digital and material worlds, and as a form of play where the generative possibilities and delight of form, process and material are activated. Importantly the act of designing is positioned as a particular way of understanding and addressing the needs of clients, user groups and communities. Combined, these immersions manifest as a highly transferable mode of critically engaged, propositional and practical thinking, which acts as a scaffold for entry into the profession and opens up opportunities to pursue research and further study.

You will learn through a range of formal and informal encounters. These include participation in design studio and project oriented courses, lectures and tutorials, technical tuition in the use of specialist software and prototyping techniques, engaging with online materials and readings, exhibitions, exucrsions and field trips. You will work as an individual and as a member of design project teams, and a significant emphasis is placed on the ability to initiate individual and peer learning activitities and to be self-directed in your approach to study.

You will be assessed throughout the program on how well you meet the learning outcomes of each course, and on your development against the program learning outcomes. Assessment will cover both theoretical and practical aspects of your learning. You will be able to develop your work in relation to your own specific areas of interest in your professional practice and will receive ongoing formative feedback as you progress. This feedback comes from your lecturers, from industry guests and mentors, and from your peers in view of continuous improvement and greater degrees of reflectivity on your own learning.

If you have a disability, long-term illness and/or mental health condition or are the primary carer of individuals with a disability it is possible to have adjustments arranged and negotiated to vary aspects of the learning or assessment methods. You can contact the program coordinator or the Equitable Learning Services if you would like to find out more.

If you have already developed areas of skill and knowledge included in this program (for example, through prior studies or work experience), you can apply for credit once you have enrolled in this program. There is information on the RMIT University website about how to apply for Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) 

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Work integrated learning

RMIT University is committed to providing you with an education that strongly links formal learning with professional or vocational practice. As a student enrolled in this RMIT University program you will:

  • undertake and be assessed on structured activities that allow you to learn, apply and demonstrate your professional or vocational practice;
  • interact with industry and community when undertaking these activities;
  • complete these activities in real work contexts or situations;

and in addition:

  • these interactions and the work contexts provide distinctive sources of feedback to you to assist your learning.

Any or all of these aspects of a WIL experience may be simulated in a workplace environment.

The Industrial Design program has a strong set of relationships across a range of industry, research and community entities and works with industry in a variety of ways: through student engagement with academic and professional staff who are practitioners in the field; through the structure and content of courses that are often linked directly to, or taught by, industry partners, through assessment and feedback where industry practitioners will be involved in appraising and critiquing your design work; and, through specialised work placements via the Design Practicum and Atelier elective courses.

Typically these engagements occur through Design Studio , but are in fact common in all courses. Collaborative teaching relationships with other disciplines at RMIT and other universities both locally and abroad extend WIL opportunities so that you will learn to work with people from other fields. In addition the program frequently runs design studios and electives with students and practitioners from other programs at RMIT, including Architecture, Fine Art, Landscape Architecture, Interior Design, Textiles Design, Fashion Design, Engineering, and Business programs. These activities often involve external industry or community partners, provide you relevant and collaborative WIL opportunities, and offer you interdisciplinary learning opportunities within the realm of larger projects with other disciplines.

These industry and community connections contribute to the program and the development of your capabilities in the following ways:

  • By situating commercial or speculative projects within the curriculum of design studio and electives courses
  • By releasing practitioners as teaching staff across all courses and year levels in the program
  • By participating in the review, assessment and moderation of your design projects, offering verbal and
    written feedback.
  • By locating students’ design activities and outcomes within real-world professional activities including projects, exhibitions, competitions, and campaigns

 The designated WIL Course is:

GRAP 1040 Industrial Design Honours Project Part Two: Design Research and Prototyping

This course is the capstone of the Bachelor Honours program and engages in work integrated learning through the inclusion of design industry practitioners and experts in relevant fields in the evaluation and feedback of individual design research projects as they develop. Professional practice in this course involves the communication of design research findings and propositions to industry and community stakeholders in a professional and scholarly manner, and to reflect deeply on the meanings and findings you have discovered in your particular approach to design practice. Additionally external industry specialists will contribute to the assessment of design research project outcomes.

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Program Structure

For students who commence their study in this program from 1 January 2016 onwards, please note that some courses listed in this structure will have their course marks count toward your program's weighted average mark. Your weighted average mark will determine the honours level of your award once you have completed the program. If a course counts toward your weighted average mark, that fact will be stated in its course guide. In Enrolment Online, after you completed your course enrolment, you will be notified which of the enrolled courses will count toward the weighted average mark.
 

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Year One of Program

Complete the following Eight Courses:

Course Title

Credit Points

Course Code

Campus

User Centred Design Studio 12 GRAP1031 City Campus
Design in Society: Histories, Politics and Contexts of Application 12 GRAP1041 City Campus
Design Prototyping: Materials, Processes and Experimentation 12 GRAP1052 City Campus
Industrial Design Drawing 12 GRAP1049 City Campus
Design for Sustainability Studio 12 GRAP1032 City Campus
Industrial Design Ecologies: Sustainability, Socio-technical Systems and Change 12 GRAP1042 City Campus
Computer Aided Industrial Design 12 GRAP1050 City Campus
Industrial Design Engineering: Materials, Mechanics, Processes and Principles of Production 12 GRAP1051 City Campus
 
AND

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Year Two of Program

Complete the following Two (2) Courses:

Course Title

Credit Points

Course Code

Campus

Industrial Design Tactics: Temporal, Perceptual and Experiential Methods 12 GRAP1043 City Campus
Interactive Systems Design 12 ARCH1479 City Campus
AND
Select and Complete Two (2) of the following Courses:

Course Title

Credit Points

Course Code

Campus

Design Studio: Materiality 24 GRAP1033 City Campus
Design Studio Speculative 24 GRAP1034 City Campus
Design Studio: Social 24 GRAP1035 City Campus
Design Studio: Digital 24 GRAP2221 City Campus
AND
Select and Complete One (1) course from the Program Options List at the end of this program structure
AND
Select and Complete One (1) University Elective or another Program Option Course:
University Elective
 
AND

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Year Three of Program

Complete the following Two (2) Core Courses:

Course Title

Credit Points

Course Code

Campus

The Contemporary Industrial Design Enterprise: Modes and Practice in Design Business 12 GRAP1045 City Campus
Methods in Design Research and Practice 12 GRAP2225 City Campus
AND
Select and Complete Two (2) of the following courses that you have not taken or passed already.

Course Title

Credit Points

Course Code

Campus

Design Studio: Materiality 24 GRAP1033 City Campus
Design Studio Speculative 24 GRAP1034 City Campus
Design Studio: Social 24 GRAP1035 City Campus
Design Studio: Digital 24 GRAP2221 City Campus
AND
Select and Complete One (1) course from the Program Options list at the end of this program structure:
AND
Select and Complete One (1) Course from any University Elective or another Program Option course:
University Elective
 
AND

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Year Four of Program

Complete the following Four (4) Courses:

Course Title

Credit Points

Course Code

Campus

Industrial Design Honours Project Part One: Design Research and Development 24 GRAP2290 City Campus
Industrial Design Honours Project Part Two: Design Research and Prototyping 24 GRAP1040 City Campus
Professional Ethics and Design Strategy 12 GRAP1046 City Campus
Industrial Design Honours: Reflection and Exposition 12 GRAP2573 City Campus
AND
Select and Complete One (1) course from the Program Options list at the end of this program structure:
AND
Select and Complete One (1) Courses from any University Elective or another Program Option:
University Elective
 
AND

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Industrial Design:

Program Option Course List:

Course Title

Credit Points

Course Code

Campus

Advanced Industrial Design Engineering 12 GRAP2575 City Campus
Advanced Industrial Design Visualisation 12 GRAP2576 City Campus
Advanced CAID 12 GRAP2577 City Campus
Industrial Design Prototyping and Complex Fabrication 12 GRAP2578 City Campus
Electronic and Interactive Prototyping 12 GRAP2572 City Campus
Computational Prototyping for Industrial Design 12 ARCH1477 City Campus
Systems and Service Visualisation for Industrial Design 12 ARCH1478 City Campus
Make Things Interactive: How to create physically interactive objects and environments 12 GRAP1038 City Campus
Design Internship 12 GRAP2571 City Campus
Atelier 12 GRAP2570 City Campus
 

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Program transition plan

From Semester 1, 2025, BH104 Bachelor of Industrial Design (Honours) will be updated with a new program structure.

The BH104P15 plan will be discontinued and replaced with BH104P25 Bachelor of Industrial Design (Honours). The final intake into this plan will be Semester 2, 2024. If you are due to complete the program in Semester 2, 2024 you will not be affected by this change.

All other students will be transferred to the new plan from Semester 1, 2025. You will be provided with a study plan and a transition map of the same or equivalent courses. Your academic progress will be considered and reviewed with an academic advisor.

Your study plan will outline:

  • Courses you have already completed
  • Courses you are currently enrolled in (results pending)
  • Courses, if any, that you will need to complete in the amended program structure to graduate with the new award

You will not be disadvantaged by this change in program structure, including if you are undertaking a reduced load, are on Leave of bsence (LOA), or have deferred studies.

The current and new program plans will be linked so that your current grade point average (GPA) will be transferred to the new program plan.    

If you have been classified as at risk of unsatisfactory academic progress, you will continue to be classified as at risk when you are enrolled in the new program plan. Your academic progress will be considered and reviewed with an academic advisor. 

Your time in the current program will be counted towards your total time taken to complete the program.    

To ensure all your currently completed courses are recognised in the new structure, some students may not be eligible to complete the full credit points required to receive a major or a minor.   

You will not incur any extra costs or be required to complete extra credit points because of this change in program structure.

Where to get help

If you have questions or concerns regarding this advice, please do not hesitate to contact your program manager, Frank Feltham via email to frank.feltham@rmit.edu.au.

Transition map of existing courses

BH104P15 courses BH104P25 structure
Year 1 Mapping to new structure
Course Code Course Title Credit Points Course Code Course Title Credit Points Change
GRAP1031 User Centred Design Studio 12 GRAP1031 Industrial Design Practice 12 Existing year 1 course - change of title
GRAP1041 Design in Society: Histories, Politics and Contexts of Application 12 GRAP1041 Design and Society 12 Existing year 1 course - change of title
GRAP1052 Design Prototyping: Materials, Processes and Experimentation 12 GRAP1052 Industrial Design Prototyping 1 12 Existing year 1 course - change of title
GRAP1049 Industrial Design Drawing 12 GRAP1049 Industrial Design Drawing 1 12 Existing year 1 course - change of title
GRAP1032 Design for Sustainability Studio 12 ARCH3355 Industrial Design Prototyping 2 12 New year 1 course
GRAP1042 Industrial Design Ecologies: Sustainability, Socio-technical Systems and Change 12 GRAP1042 Sustainability, Sociotechnical Systems and Change 12 Existing course - change of title - moved to Design for Sustainability major and minor
GRAP1050 Computer Aided Industrial Design 12 GRAP1050 Computer-Aided Industrial Design 1 12 Existing year 1 course - change of title
GRAP1051 Industrial Design Engineering: Materials, Mechanics, Processes and Principles of Production 12 GRAP1051 Design for Advanced Manufacture 12 Existing course - change of title - moved to Design for Advanced Manufacture major and minor
Year 2 Mapping to new structure
Course Code Course Title Credit Points Course Code Course Title Credit Points Change
GRAP1043 Industrial Design Tactics: Temporal, Perceptual and Experiential Methods 12 GRAP1043 Interactive Technologies in Culture 12 Existing course - change of title - moved to Interaction Design major and minor
ARCH1479 Interactive Systems Design 12 ARCH1479 Interactive Products and Systems Design 12 Existing course - change of title - moved to Interaction Design major and minor and Design for Sound Interfaces and Environments major
Studio options Credit Points Mapping to new structure Credit Points Change
GRAP1033 Design Studio: Materiality 24 ARCH3362 Design Studio: Experimentation 24 New Studio course (to include WAM)
GRAP1034 Design Studio: Speculative 24 ARCH3366 Design Studio: Innovation 24 New Studio course (to include WAM)
GRAP1035 Design Studio: Social 24 ARCH3364 Design Studio: Research 24 New Studio course (to include WAM)
GRAP2221 Design Studio: Digital 24 GRAP2221 Design Studio: Technology 24 Existing studio course - change of title – to include in WAM
Year 3 Mapping to new structure
Course Code Course Title Credit points Course Code Course Title Credit points Change
GRAP1045 The Contemporary Industrial Design Enterprise: Modes and Practice in Design Business 12   University elective 12 Replacement course
GRAP2225 Methods in Design Research and Practice 12 GRAP2225 Methods in Design Research and Practice 12 Existing course - moved to year 4
Studio options Credit Points Mapping to new structure Credit points Change
GRAP1033 Design Studio: Materiality 24 ARCH3362 Design Studio: Experimentation 24 New Studio course (to include WAM)
GRAP1034 Design Studio: Speculative 24 ARCH3366 Design Studio: Innovation 24 New Studio course (to include WAM)
GRAP1035 Design Studio: Social 24 ARCH3364 Design Studio: Research 24 New Studio course (to include WAM)
GRAP2221 Design Studio: Digital 24 GRAP2221 Design Studio: Technology 24 Existing studio course - change of title – to include in WAM
Year 4 Mapping to new structure
Course Code Course Title Credit points Course Code Course Title Credit points Change
GRAP2290 Industrial Design Honours Project Part One: Design Research and Development 24 ARCH3368 Design Honours Project 1 12 New course - changed from 24cp to 12cp (WAM course)
  AND
University elective
12 Replacement course
GRAP1040 Industrial Design Honours Project Part Two: Design Research and Prototyping 24 GRAP1040 Design Honours Project 2 24 Existing year 4 course - change of title – WAM course
GRAP1046 Professional Ethics and Design Strategy 12   University elective 12 Replacement course
GRAP2573 Industrial Design Honours: Reflection and Exposition 12   University elective 12 Replacement course
Program options Mapping to new structure
Course Code Course Title Credit points Course Code Course Title Credit points Change
GRAP2575 Advanced Industrial Design Engineering 12 GRAP2575 Design for Sustainable Production 12 Existing course - change of title - moved to Design for Sustainability major and minor (core) or option in all other majors
GRAP2576 Advanced Industrial Design Visualisation 12 GRAP2576 Industrial Design Drawing 2 12 Change of title. Moved to year 1 core
GRAP2577 Advanced CAID 12 GRAP2577 Computer-Aided Industrial Design 2 12 Change of title. Moved to year 1 core
GRAP2578 Industrial Design Prototyping and Complex Fabrication 12 GRAP2578 Design Prototyping and Complex Fabrication 12 Change of title. Moved to Design for Advanced Manufacture major and minor (core) or option in all other majors
GRAP2572 Electronic and Interactive Prototyping 12 GRAP2572 Electronic and Interactive Prototyping 12 Moved to Interaction Design major and minor (core) or option in all other majors
ARCH1477 Computational Prototyping for Industrial Design 12 ARCH1477 Computational Prototyping for Design 12 Change of title. Moved to Interaction Design major and minor (core) or option in all other majors
ARCH1478 Systems and Service Visualisation for Industrial Design 12 ARCH1478 Product, Service and Systems Design 12 Change of title. Moved to Interaction Design major and minor (core) or option in all other majors
GRAP1038 Make Things Interactive: How to create physically interactive objects and environments 12   University elective 12 Replacement course
GRAP2571 Design Internship 12 GRAP2571 Design Internship 12 Program option in all majors. 
GRAP2570 Atelier 12 GRAP2570 Atelier 12 Program option in all majors. 
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