Product design and Mechanical engineering?

Question

I applied for Mechanical Engineering at Heriot Watt in Edinburgh but I realized I'm more interested in the 'design' part of it... I've always loved designing, digital design and computer graphics, and I wanna apply it in a more engineering career rather than in arts..

So what Is Product design engineering? and is it a branch of mechanical engineering?

Since I'm very interested in design, what course would you recommend most in the engineering field?

Answer 1

OK, what is product design?

product design is designing different and several parts and specimens using a wide range of materials.

product design can be divided into sections one of them from mechanical point of view and the other is from material point of view.

so when you want to design you should care about it's mechanical structure and also the material which is suitable for the application of that part.

if you want to do product design it's better to know which one are you more interested in in material side you will get involved with a range of material categories and their mechanical and other properties but in mechanical side you will just design it and leave the material selection for the materials engineer.

good luck  with your studies and make your choice earlier...

Answer 2

I did a degree in "mechanical design"- my job now consists of designing products in 3d CAD... Everything from how they look to how they are manufactured and assembled.

The plastic injection components are tooled directly from the 3D data files and drawings I produce.

The course was 95% physics and maths... None of which I use in my job, but it's nice to know you can do the technical stuff when you need to.