Overview

Industrial Design Profession

Industrial Design profession aims to solve people’s problems, improve their quality of lives and make life more enjoyable with the design and development of innovative products, services and systems. Analyzing users’ existing experiences, improving broken experiences and proposing new user experiences lie at the core of this profession. A wide range of products, services and systems that we use everyday are results of such efforts. These include the CocaCola bottle that became a brand icon, Sony Walkman which changed the music listening practice and Apple iPhone that redefined the our interaction with phones. These examples also emphasize the industrial designers’ broad field of work. The unique social and cultural context of Turkey even widens the application of industrial design in our country. Along with the emphasis on development and economic growth, companies have directed their attention towards industrial design in order to come up with innovative solution proposals. In this aspect, industrial design is evaluated as the new source of innovation, and therefore, competition.

Department Approach

Özyeğin University Industrial Design Department (ÖzÜ ID) is a prominent design school with its innovative education philoshopy. The innovative approach derives from three aspects: interaction design based education, emphasis on entrepreneurship and business administration, the opportunity for follow one of four tracks (interaction design, packaging design, furniture design, fashion and accessory design.

During the foundation of the department, Özü ID has investigated the changing professional design practice and user needs in Turkey and abroad. This has led to a curriculum based on interaction design as it responds to contemporary and future needs in a better way. Within the scope of interaction design based education philosophy, studio and theory courses are structured to include design research, service design, experience design, and user-centered design.

We believe that ÖzÜ ID graduates become key actors in design management, design strategy, and product, service and systems design and development processes. In order to prepare our students for such roles, we pay special emphasis on entrepreneurship and business administration and collaborate with ÖzÜ Faculty of Business Administration. Students are encouraged to take classes on entrepreneurship and marketing.

We offer 4 tracks for students to pursue starting from their sixth semester. Students, according to their individual interests, can choose any of the 4 tracks (interaction design, packaging design, furniture design, and fashion and accessory design) to specialize in a field or follow the regular industrial design curriculum.

ÖzÜ ID aims to train designers with a holistic perspective. Graduates can asses products, services and systems within their ecosystem and are aware of their social and environmental impacts. Our well-trained and competitive graduates develop each solution with reference to its physical, emotional and symbolic aspects.

Background Information

Ozyegin University Department of Industrial Design was founded within Faculty of Architecture and Design in 2013. The Department adopts a progressive education philosophy and features interaction design as its core approach, while maintaining the necessary flexibility that responds to the sectoral developments both in Turkey and abroad.

In 2013, ÖzÜ ID became a member of World Design Organization (WDO), which is once known as ICSID. Within the same year, Özü School of Architecture and Design joined Cumulus (International Association of Universities and Colleges of Art, Design and Media).

In 2014, The Department started the annual OzU / İID Gökçeada/Imbros design workshops around the theme of “designing locally”. The workshop series are first realized in 2014, and continue in 2015 and 2016 at an international scale.

The Design, Technology and Society master’s (with thesis) and doctoral programs were launched in year 2015 together with the ÖzÜ İstanbul Institute of Design (ÖzÜ/İID). Students coming from various disciplines and backgrounds are conducting their interdisciplinary studies at ÖzÜ/İID.

Last updated on 15 December 2016.