Who are the future designers?:The path leading to undergraduate study of product design

How does someone become a professional product designer? This paper argues that every practicing product designer has made a series of key decisions at key points in their life that have contributed to them taking the journey towards their professional vocation. The nature of this process of formative decision making is of key interest to the marketing and recruitment activity for the undergraduate Product Design Programme at UWIC. In addition, the understanding of this process is critical to understanding why prospective students choose a path to studying product design in higher education. This paper initially presents a case study of research which attempts to explore the decision making process that applicants have undertaken prior to focusing on Product Design at Undergraduate Level. The paper then presents the results of the primary research and draws some initial conclusions about decision makers, influencers and the various key stages identified. The research focussed on the period from pre-GCSE through to successful application to university