The Product Design program at NACCA is grounded in the theoretical foundation of "embodied cognition and behavioral design." Moving beyond the singular paradigm of traditional industrial design dominated by technical functionality, it constructs a four-dimensional progressive training framework of "perception-expression-practice-innovation," dedicated to cultivating innovative product design talents who integrate humanistic care and practical wisdom. The program focuses on activating sensory experiences and dynamic expression, using "clothing, food, housing, mobility, and daily objects" as entry points into everyday issues. Anchored in the value of "low-tech intervention and high-level expression," it guides students to identify needs and reconstruct meaning in daily life, achieving a symbiotic integration of practical value and humanistic depth. The program’s teaching and research office leverages the academic platform of Sino-French cooperative education, implementing an interdisciplinary and integrated training approach that combines artistic perception, humanistic critical thinking, and engineering logic to cultivate students’ composite design thinking and international perspective. Simultaneously, the program actively promotes practical projects that deeply integrate industry, academia, and research, bridging industry contexts and corporate resources to strengthen the real-world application of design outcomes. This solidifies the foundation for students’ professional pathways, cultivating future design talents capable of driving daily innovation through design.
Curriculum Overview
Curriculum Structure
The first year focuses on "Perception and Expression," using adjectives and verbs as training levers to cultivate, through concrete interpretation and the deconstruction and reconstruction of dynamic behavior, students' command of material properties, the aesthetic forms of products, and design composition, while strengthening perceptual literacy across the five sensory dimensions. The second year focuses on "Research and Construction," organized around the five dimensions of daily life—clothing, food, shelter, mobility, and daily objects—consolidating training in narrative expression and speculative design, and introducing real enterprises and real projects so that students reinforce their design logic and build a critical design perspective through practice. The third year focuses on "Projects and Industry," drawing on the French project-based curriculum to drive design thinking and industry practice through real-world projects, achieving deep Sino-French integration. The fourth year focuses on "Integration and Intervention," using the graduation project as a vehicle to put the concept of "low-tech intervention, high-dimensional expression" into practice—uncovering minor problems within authentic daily life and conducting in-depth research on design pain points to realize both the practical and humanistic value of design.
