{"id":6311,"date":"2026-04-27T10:57:02","date_gmt":"2026-04-27T17:57:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pacific.edu\/blog\/?p=6311"},"modified":"2026-04-27T10:57:03","modified_gmt":"2026-04-27T17:57:03","slug":"product-design-degree","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pacific.edu\/blog\/2026\/04\/27\/product-design-degree\/","title":{"rendered":"What can you do with a product design degree?\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Two<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

You may not meet product designers very often, but you encounter their work every day. As you read this text on a phone or computer, you\u2019re using software that user experience and user interface designers helped build. When you buy something at the store, odds are that product designers were part of everything from the item itself to the packaging it\u2019s in.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

These designers combine their knowledge of design, business and consumer preferences to create products that work better for you. If you\u2019ve ever been in a store\u2019s aisle and thought some product packaging could be done better, this field might be for you.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you want to work in this field, getting a product design degree is an excellent first step to teach you the foundations and familiarize you with the career paths available.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is a product design degree?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

First and foremost, product design degrees teach you how to use your creative and critical thinking skills to solve problems and create user-friendly solutions. University of the Pacific engineering management professor and co-lead of the Faculty Advisory Board that developed Pacific\u2019s product design degree, Mehdi Khazaeli, highlights the importance of human-centered thinking in the age of artificial intelligence. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLet the computer do what it\u2019s good at, which is computing, and let humans be more human,\u201d he says. \u201cThis [product design] major helps identify problems, then connect different disciplines together to solve them.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As you earn a product design degree, you learn to connect disciplines such as engineering, business and communication to find innovative solutions and gain the storytelling abilities to sell their value. You also learn the hard skills of project management, conceptual design and prototyping to make those ideas physical. By the time you graduate, you\u2019re ready to join a team that brings a project from idea to consumer product.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This degree often allows you to specialize in physical design or digital user experience, which gives you the flexibility to focus on the types of products that interest you. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis major is good for the students that want to go that extra step to understand the world, to be inspired by nature\u2019s ideas and integrate different ideas from one discipline to another,\u201d Khazaeli says. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Industrial design vs. product design degree<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

When you research product design, you also find references to the field of industrial design. This practice is part of product design. When you design a physical product for consumer use, you consider not just the end user, but also the practical side of mass production.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is one of the skills you learn in a product design degree, although it will be combined with a broader focus that prepares you for a wider selection of industry jobs.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou will learn techniques like industrial design, but we need to combine these skill sets with technicals and creating value, \u201dKhazaeli says. So, that\u2019s the value of this interdisciplinary major. You\u2019re not just focusing on narrow topics. You learn a combination of skills.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Product design curriculum<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

When you compare product design degrees, be sure to look at each program\u2019s course catalog<\/a>. That outlines what you learn at that university with required and optional courses, plus the intended learning outcomes.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

These learning outcomes are especially important, because they give you insight into the abilities that university expects you to have when you graduate. If you compare these catalogs, you can also see where a university adds particular emphasis based on its specializations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

University of the Pacific\u2019s program, for example, offers two tracks: physical design and manufacturing, and digital user experience and artificial intelligence. Physical design gives you a foundation in 3D design, manufacturing processes and mechanical engineering. Digital user experience trains you to understand digital design, computer science and human-computer interface design. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pacific\u2019s Bachelor of Science in product design and entrepreneurship<\/a> also builds your business mindset. It\u2019s less hands-on than the actual process of design but no less important. You can build a technically perfect product, but it will never go to market if it\u2019s too expensive to build or purchase. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMaybe your first job is human-computer interaction designer or something on the manufacturing side,\u00a0drafting\u00a0or doing product design,\u201d\u00a0Khazaeli\u00a0says. \u201cBut\u00a0eventually, you get the experience to move on\u00a0to be an entrepreneur.\u00a0There\u2019s\u00a0a business in viability, and\u00a0that\u2019s\u00a0what you learn from these experiences.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Product design course requirements<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

To give you an idea of what kind of courses you take, here are a few examples from Pacific\u2019s degree program:\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n