YEAR 01:
You don’t need to arrive as a designer, you become one through the work you do here.
Learn The Skills
In Year 1 you build core design skills from scratch, no previous experience needed. You’ll develop sketching, model making, CAD (SolidWorks), materials awareness, and digital presentation through hands-on projects. Teaching is practical, supportive, and focused on helping you grow confidence quickly with real design workflows.
Applied Studio Learning.
Every module feeds into Design Studio, so you’re constantly applying new skills to active projects. You’ll move from early ideas and sketches to prototypes, CAD models, and presentation boards, learning how to test, improve, and communicate your design along the way. This applied approach helps you build a strong understanding of the design process.
Small Classes, More Support.
Study Product Design in a focused studio environment. SETU Carlow classes are capped at around 30 students, giving you more access to lecturers, workshops, labs, and feedback than large programmes. You’ll work in a dedicated studio culture with regular guidance, peer learning, and clear progression.
By the end of Year 1, you’ll produce a complete portfolio bringing together your design projects, sketches, models, CAD work, and presentations. This portfolio shows how your ideas develop from concept to outcome. See student examples below – click and explore. Every skill you need to create this work is taught step by step throughout the year.
“Over Year 1, I’ve developed a new approach to sketching that has made it easier to communicate my designs. I’ve learned how to render and present ideas more effectively, and how to use sketching to support model making. While I’m still beginning to develop my own personal style, I feel much more comfortable sharing my sketches and presenting them to others.”
Samuel Skurka
“I’m interested in art, especially the Baroque and Art Deco eras, and in Year 1 I learned how to bring those influences into my design work. In Design Discourse and Design Trends, I explored what defines each style and how it connects to product design. In design communication classes, I used that research to shape my portfolio layout and light design.”
Annabel O’Connell
Your First Year Journey In SETU Design
Sketching Introduction
You’ll learn design sketching from the ground up, with no prior experience required. Teaching focuses on basic drawing control, clear line work, line weight, and perspective, helping you quickly build confidence in communicating ideas clearly through sketches.
Workshop Induction Models
You’ll learn to shape foam and sheet plastics, paint and finish models, and safely use workshop machines including lathes, band saws, wire cutters, and laser cutters. With four hours weekly in a dedicated workshop, expert technical staff provide hands-on guidance and support.
Product Manufacturing & Materials
You’ll take products apart to understand how they’re built and why they work. By analysing components, materials, and manufacturing methods, you’ll learn what makes products reliable and fit for use. You’ll also explore exterior choices (colour, finish, texture) shaping look, feel, and user experience.
Freedom To Create
Throughout the year you’ll take on creative challenges that go beyond product design, exploring visual storytelling through object-making, imagery, and composition. These projects encourage experimentation and imagination, helping you communicate mood, narrative, and meaning through design. Above is a brief to visualise a book title within a picture frame—shown here with A Clockwork Orange.
User Centered Research Intro
You’ll learn practical research methods to spot real user problems in everyday products. Working individually and in teams, you’ll observe, interview, map insights, and brainstorm ideas. These findings guide concept development, helping you design solutions that genuinely improve how people use products.
Turning Ideas Into Concepts
You’ll learn how to develop early ideas into clear design concepts through sketching and prototyping. By exploring options quickly and visually, you’ll test, refine, and improve ideas, moving from rough thoughts to more resolved, workable design solutions.
Experiencing Design
You’ll get outside the studio to experience design firsthand with your classmates. Year 1 includes trips to IKEA, the National Museum in Dublin, and the Design & Crafts Gallery in Kilkenny, building your understanding of products, materials, culture, and how design shows up in everyday life.
Visual Communication
You’ll learn core graphic design principles and Adobe tools like Illustrator and Photoshop. You’ll create posters and presentation boards to visualise and communicate your designs, building confidence with layout, typography, and colour theory. You’ll also learn basic printing and plotter setup, finishing Year 1 with a digital portfolio.
Design Challenges
Each year, you’ll tackle new group design challenges based on real-world needs. In the example shown, students worked with a local coffee company to redesign its service using Universal Design principles, ensuring the experience was accessible and usable for everyone, including wheelchair users.
Presenting Ideas
You’ll learn how to format and design clear presentation sheets that explain your project from idea to outcome. Through studio-based critiques and presentations, you’ll build professional communication skills, learning how to speak about your design decisions clearly, visually, and with confidence.
Creating Your Own Design
Your final Year 1 project is to design your own light, inspired by a design style or movement you connect with. You’ll bring together everything you’ve learned, developing form through iterations, proposing multiple concepts, and communicating ideas through sketching, illustration, CAD, and prototyping.
Making Your Idea Real
ou’ll use your new skills and our workshop facilities to make your design real, built to scale and fully functional. It’s a Year 1 highlight: imagine an idea, develop it through design work, then craft a working light for our end-of-year exhibition. This is where you step back and see how far you’ve come.
