Hi, my name is Esther and I graduated from the University of Chester earlier this year (June 2020). I left university with a First Class degree with honours in Product Design and also a range of skills that have helped me to further my career. I can honestly say that the three years that I attended university were the best years of my life! I developed my understanding, knowledge and skill set as well as making lifelong friends from the course. The support I received from staff really helped me during my time at university as they supported me to achieve the best possible outcomes.
After I finished my degree I decided to take my major project further by creating additions of final designs and selling them firstly to friends and family, and then moved on to selling them on Esty. This is something that I have continued due to how much I enjoyed my final year and is something I will continue to do. My project involved Marks and Spencer’s carrier bags and I was extremely lucky to have my work featured on the staff online bulletin.
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Currently I am starting my dream career… A Design and Technology teacher! Multiple people have told me I must be crazy to want to teach secondary school, however it has always been my future aspiration. The skill set I gained from Chester has enabled me to reach this goal as I have a firm understanding of CAD (computer-aided design) and the design process. The modules on the course have definitely proved valuable as the skill set from each module (e.g. sketching) are aspects that I have used during my PGCE. I am currently on my first school placement which is brilliant, everyday is something new and teaching the children of the future how to design and make something - that is truly special.
I really cherished my time at Chester as I had some great laughs and experienced brilliant opportunities such as travelling to New York, visiting Bentley Motors, and being involved in tutorials with great product designers. In February we took a trip to New York where we visited sights such as the Twin Towers memorial, Brooklyn bridge, Times Square and many more. It provided lots of inspiration for our projects but also provided us with valuable insights such as visiting the Dyson store which showcased the evolution of products, including technology developments. The visit to Bentley Motors was another great experience as we were lucky enough to see the concept car of the future as well as test the cars ourselves (sadly we could not drive them though!).
Another opportunity that was greatly appreciated during my time at Chester was the tutorials that were delivered by Product Designers. It was inspiring to hear their experiences, but the tips and activities they shared were extremely useful, for example sessions on improving our drawing and rendering, how to think of ideas and also evaluating those ideas.
The course taught me the skills needed in order for me to further my career. I have an Instagram which I populated during my degree and will continue to use during my career (@productdesign.est). Please feel free to look at my Instagram to see the opportunities that the University of Chester allowed me to experience and if you have any questions, feel free to ask!
If you’d like to know more about our courses and what it’s like to be a student at Chester, you can speak to our current students about their experiences via Unibuddy. You can also find out more about our Product Design course here.
