Advanced Product Design

This course is part of Sustainable Product Design for Engineers Specialization

Instructor: Dr. Sharmistha Banerjee

Included with Learn more

4 modules

Gain insight into a topic and learn the fundamentals.

Intermediate level

Recommended experience

2 weeks to complete

at 10 hours a week

Flexible schedule

Learn at your own pace

4 modules

Gain insight into a topic and learn the fundamentals.

Intermediate level

Recommended experience

2 weeks to complete

at 10 hours a week

Flexible schedule

Learn at your own pace

What you'll learn

Transform product concepts into manufacturable designs using functional decomposition, Pugh selection, FMEA, tolerance analysis, and DfX methods
Design intuitive, inclusive products by applying affordances, feedback, Fitts' and Hick's laws, and accessibility principles to physical interfaces
Craft and evaluate user interactions with design patterns, microinteractions, heuristic evaluation, and A/B testing for digital and physical products

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Build your subject-matter expertise

This course is part of the Sustainable Product Design for Engineers Specialization

When you enroll in this course, you'll also be enrolled in this Specialization.

Learn new concepts from industry experts
Gain a foundational understanding of a subject or tool
Develop job-relevant skills with hands-on projects
Earn a shareable career certificate

There are 4 modules in this course

By the end of this course, you will be able to transform an approved product concept into a manufacturable, reliable, and usable design. You will decompose product functions, generate and select concepts using morphological charts and Pugh matrices, anticipate failures with FMEA, and verify fit through tolerance analysis. You will then optimize your design for assembly, reliability, cost, quality, and safety using Design for X methods; apply cognitive principles such as affordances, Fitts' law, and Hick's law; and craft interactions across touch, voice, and physical controls — evaluating them with heuristic evaluation and A/B testing.

What makes this course unique is its insistence on measurable design: every principle comes with quantitative targets — assembly efficiency, risk priority numbers, response-time thresholds, target sizes — so your decisions are defensible, not intuitive. A single running case study, a portable water purifier for rural communities, carries every method from function structure to field validation, alongside cases spanning medical devices, appliances, and consumer electronics. Whether you are an engineer moving toward design or a designer strengthening engineering rigor, you will finish with a complete, integrated toolchain for taking products from concept to user-ready reality.

Transform product concepts into manufacturable designs through embodiment design. Master functional decomposition, morphological charts, and Pugh concept selection; anticipate failures with FMEA; verify fit with tolerance analysis; and pass formal design reviews. Applied step-by-step to a portable water purifier — the phase where 70–80% of lifecycle costs are committed.

What's included

10 videos1 reading2 assignments

10 videosTotal 68 minutes

Introduction to Embodiment Design: From Concept to Manufacturable Layout5 minutes
Functional Decomposition: Mapping Energy, Material and Signal Flows8 minutes
Morphological Charts: Systematic Concept Generation6 minutes
Pugh Charts: Iterative Concept Selection and Convergence7 minutes
FMEA I: Identifying Failure Modes and Calculating Risk Priority7 minutes
FMEA II: Acting on RPN — Thresholds, Strategies and Limitations7 minutes
Tolerance Analysis: Managing Variation from Part to Assembly9 minutes
Design Reviews: Gate Decisions from Concept to Production5 minutes
Embodiment Design in Action: Portable Water Purifier Case Study10 minutes
Summarizing the Embodiment Design Toolchain3 minutes

1 readingTotal 10 minutes

Embodiment Design: Reading & Reference Material10 minutes

2 assignmentsTotal 120 minutes

Embodiment Design of the “Surya” Solar Lantern90 minutes
Check Your Understanding: Embodiment Design30 minutes

Master Design for X (DFX) methods that embed life-cycle thinking into product design from the concept stage. Apply design for assembly, reliability, cost, quality, testing, and safety; quantify trade-offs using FMEA, HALT, and target costing; and prioritize competing DFX strategies through water purifier and medical-device case studies.

What's included

10 videos1 reading2 assignments

10 videosTotal 97 minutes

Introduction to DFX: Life-Cycle Thinking in Product Design9 minutes
Design for Assembly: Minimizing Part Count and Assembly Time6 minutes
Design for Reliability I: The Bathtub Curve and FMEA7 minutes
Design for Reliability II: Reliability Toolkits — HALT, Accelerated Testing and Fault Trees9 minutes
Design for Cost: Cost Structures and Costing Methods10 minutes
Design for Quality: Robust and Resilient Design with Error Prevention12 minutes
Design for Testing: Testability, Observability and Modularity10 minutes
Design for Safety: Hazard Analysis and the Safety Hierarchy13 minutes
Selecting and Prioritizing DFX Strategies12 minutes
DFX in Action: Blood Pressure Monitor Case Study (Week 2 Summary)10 minutes

1 readingTotal 10 minutes

DFX: Reading Material and References10 minutes

2 assignmentsTotal 150 minutes

DfX Audit and Redesign of the "Swiftblend" Mixer Grinder120 minutes
Check your understanding of DFX method selection 30 minutes

Apply universal design principles grounded in cognitive science to create intuitive, error-free products. Master affordances, consistency, feedback, Fitts' Law, Hick's Law, Occam's Razor, the Pareto principle, and progressive disclosure; set measurable usability targets; and integrate all eight principles, resolving conflicts deliberately, through a portable water purifier redesign case study.

What's included

12 videos1 reading2 assignments

12 videosTotal 111 minutes

Introduction to Universal Design Principles: The Science of Intuitive Products8 minutes
Affordances: Designing Products That Explain Themselves9 minutes
Consistency: Designing Products That Look, Behave and Organize Alike9 minutes
Feedback I: Bridging the Gulf of Evaluation — Modalities and Types8 minutes
Feedback II: Timing, Design Principles and Failure Modes8 minutes
Fitts' Law: Sizing and Placing Controls for Speed and Accuracy11 minutes
Hick's Law I: Managing Choice Complexity8 minutes
Hick's Law II: Boundary Conditions and Integration with Fitts' Law10 minutes
Occam's Razor: Simplicity Without Oversimplification9 minutes
The Pareto Principle: Focusing Design Effort on the Vital Few11 minutes
Progressive Disclosure: Layering Complexity by User Expertise11 minutes
Integrating the Eight Principles: Water Purifier Case Study and Week Summary8 minutes

1 readingTotal 10 minutes

Universal Principles of Design: Reading Material and References10 minutes

2 assignmentsTotal 150 minutes

Universal Design Audit and Redesign of the "HeatWell" Induction Cooktop120 minutes
Check your understanding of Universal Principles of Design30 minutes

Design how users engage with products — from physical controls to touchscreens, gestures, and voice. Explore the five dimensions of interaction design, UI versus UX, design patterns, microinteractions, and accessibility; evaluate designs using Nielsen's heuristics and A/B testing; and integrate multimodal interaction through a keychain camera case study.

What's included

12 videos1 reading2 assignments

12 videosTotal 115 minutes

Introduction to Interaction Design: Five Dimensions and Core Principles7 minutes
UI versus UX I: Principles and Process8 minutes
UI versus UX II: Beyond Screens — Physical Products9 minutes
Design Patterns I: Navigation, Input and Content Display10 minutes
Design Patterns II: Selecting the Right Pattern6 minutes
Microinteractions: Triggers, Rules, Feedback and Timing10 minutes
Gestural Interfaces: From Touchscreens to Free-Space Interaction11 minutes
Voice User Interfaces: Conversational Design from Wake Word to Response12 minutes
Accessibility in Interaction Design: The POUR Framework and Assistive Technologies12 minutes
Usability Heuristics: Nielsen's Ten and Heuristic Evaluation11 minutes
A/B Testing and Evaluation Strategy for Products8 minutes
Integrating Interaction Design: Keychain Camera Case Study and Course Summary12 minutes

1 readingTotal 10 minutes

Interaction Design — Reading List10 minutes

2 assignmentsTotal 150 minutes

Interaction Design of the “Sugam” Metro Ticket Kiosk120 minutes
Check your understanding of Interaction Design30 minutes

Earn a career certificate

Add this credential to your LinkedIn profile, resume, or CV. Share it on social media and in your performance review.

Instructor

Dr. Sharmistha Banerjee

Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati

2 Courses8 learners

Offered by

Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati

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