Course + Year: NUS Industrial Design Y3
2. Admissions/Scholarships/Programmes
I studied at the School of the Arts Singapore (SOTA). One of the six subjects I took under the IB programme was Visual Arts. My initial interest in arts led me to take Visual Arts and I enjoyed it a lot. I liked the way it challenged me to think creatively and express myself. One of my teachers and a few SOTA alumni studied Industrial design at NUS. I learnt about Industrial Design from them and I felt doing something creative was what I wanted to pursue.
I was also interested in maths, science and sociology. I was considering the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASS) at NUS and Engineering. By process of elimination, I felt like design was something I was more inclined to pursue. I wanted to do something in the creative industry in the future.
In NUS, Industrial Design and Architecture are the courses that are more related to design. I was also thinking of NTU Art Design and Media (ADM). In general, the people around me recommended the Industrial Design course so I felt it was a better course to go to.
I also felt Industrial Design offers quite a broad curriculum. As someone who had not planned what I wanted to do in the future, I felt the course gave me the freedom to explore different areas of design like User Experience (UX) design and product design. Compared to architecture that focuses on designing buildings and spaces, Industrial Design focuses on services, products and experiences. Its scope is something I’m more interested in. I’m not sure if ADM is broad but I chose Industrial Design over ADM because I preferred the former’s curriculum.
I chose the school based on the course itself but NUS was also nearer my house. The SUTD programmes did come across my mind but I ended up choosing NUS partially for the school name, and felt the NUS Industrial Design programme was a bit more established. The people around me took the course before and said good things about it. My teacher who took the course said that it was a good learning environment which allowed them to learn a lot to become a designer. This led me to be more inclined to attend NUS Industrial Design.
I am not on a scholarship but I did try to apply for the NUS Global Merit and Merit Scholarship. The scholarship covers most things and covers your fees if you stay in a Residential College (RC). There is also no bond attached. I also tried out other government scholarships by Design Singapore but they offer scholarships to only 2-3 people per year. This is the scholarship most related to design but it is quite competitive. It is open to not only undergraduates, but also people taking masters. It’s open to all design-related disciplines.
You write your personal statement, rank your choices and submit your application. After you submit your application, the shortlisted applicants will be contacted. For some people, they may immediately offer you a place at Industrial Design but for some, they may call you in for an interview. I’m not sure what criteria is used to determine this. They also give you an opportunity to share your portfolio which isn’t compulsory but it will be good if you have one. I think the difference between NUS Industrial Design and ADM is that ADM’s selection process is more rigorous as you need a certain portfolio for NTU ADM. After the interview, they will make their choice.
Poly/NAFA/Laselle students who have done a relevant design course may be granted Advanced placement Credits, usually 20MCs, and can go directly to Year 2 and skip the fundamental year. They only need 3 years to graduate from Industrial Design. I’m not very familiar with the poly admission process though.
It is an individual interview with 2 tutors from Industrial Design. Each interview lasts 15-20 minutes and if you include the mini-exercise, up to half an hour. During the interview, they may ask you questions on why you chose design. I remember they showed us a few clips on something design-related and asked us to share our thoughts and opinions on them. They also had a design exercise where they asked us to pick an object and redesign it. I think they just want to find out if you are a good fit for the programme and they probe you according to that. Due to COVID-19, the interviews are held online.
I did submit a portfolio. I think that was something I was fortunate to have because I studied in SOTA so I did have a few artworks. But something my teacher told me was that they also accept people who have no background in industrial design. There are people from JC who did not take arts but explored design in their own ways. I think it will help to see your portfolio so they can get a sense of your thought process and what you are interested in. However, even if you do not have a portfolio, it is still possible to get in.
There are also some cases where people who have come in with no prior experience in design but they still end up excelling. We start off with a Fundamental Year where they teach us basic stuff like sketching, modelling with clay and we had a simple design project where we learnt about design aesthetics and form-finding. However, honestly, there are times where I do feel the lack of experience gives you the pressure to catch up. It takes a while to learn [the basic stuff] and you do need quite a lot of initiative to pick up the hard-skills needed. For example, how to use a 3D CAD software or photoshop. There are certain modules to teach you but you still need to take the initiative to pick up these things. The school is constantly revising the curriculum. What the juniors are doing now is different from what I did in the past for the Fundamental Year.
I think you can put in anything. For people who do not have an arts background, if you designed a poster in the past or you were involved in projects where you had to do publicity or design a logo, those are possible things you can include. For me, I included my artworks from SOTA. You can also show your sketchbook. Anything really. Anything that showcases your interest in design and what you tried before. It does not need to be design per se.
I actually don’t know. The interview definitely plays a very big role as it really reveals to them what kind of person you are and whether you’re fit for industrial Design. Our cohort is very small though. For one class size…in my year, they accepted 40 people. The poly admissions route to Y2 is probably more competitive because they only accept 15 people through this route.
In Y2 Sem 2, you can decide if you want to do a local exchange, overseas exchange or an internship.
I applied and managed to get into a China overseas exchange programme in Y3 Sem 2 but there is no news on whether I will be able to go. I think it depends on COVID-19. During the summer break, if you do an internship, you can actually email and apply to take it as an internship school programme. The internship will take up 4 Modular Credits (MCs). There isn’t a list of approved companies but if it’s an internship with a more official, well-known company, I think it’s easier to get the internship approved but even if it’s from a smaller firm, it is possible to be approved. It’s on a case-by-case basis so you write to the administration and they will check with you if your internship can be approved.
* The list of approved universities can be found at the website (https://www.nus.edu.sg/gro/global-programmes/student-exchange/partner-universities)
At the end of the 4 years, you need to complete 160 MCs and the core modules within your course. The general recommended workload is 20 MC per semester and each module is usually 4 MCs so you have to take about 5 modules per semester. There are 2 semesters per year.
For the Fundamental Year (Y1 Sem 1 and 2), 4 modules are pre-allocated and they cover basic things like drawing, modelling and introduction to design courses.
In Y2-3, and maybe even Y4 Sem 1, we can take on design platforms which are bigger design projects. Each semester, we will take 2 design platforms as part of a 8MC module. Every semester, they will give us a list of design projects we can choose to take. The projects will be led by different professors who have different specialities. Some are service-design related, some are experimental, some are more product design based and last year, what was interesting was that we had a few COVID-19 related design projects. We have our own bidding system so it doesn’t necessarily mean you can take the design platform you choose.
In Y4, you will take on a Final Thesis Project. You need to come up with your own project and do your own research over the two semesters. This will be an individual assignment.
Some people may also choose to overload and take more than 20 MCs per semester. They may want to take their General Education (GE) or RC modules to clear up their schedule in Y4 to focus on their Final Thesis Project. You are free to decide how to allocate your workload throughout the 4 years in university. There are also a number of Unrestricted Electives (UE) you have to complete. In Y1, the pre-allocated modules leaves no MCs to take Unrestricted Electives. Normally, from Y2 or Y3 onwards, you can choose which UEs to take from a small list of UEs.
We have a total number of 100+ bidding points and we need to choose how many points we want to give to each option/platform. You bid more points for the modules you want more. The algorithm will sort people based on the bidding points. I think the good thing about our course is that our cohort is so small. Amongst the students, we arrange ourselves and we have an excel sheet to put our top 3 choices. This way, everyone can get a module that they are more satisfied with though there are still cases where you still don’t get something you want. The bidding process is pretty competitive. There are some modules that are more popular than others and there is a limit to the number of students who can be in that class. Based on the excel sheet, if you see there are more people than the class size, then it will be based on chance.
One of the projects I took on this year was called “Everything’s A Toy”. It’s a module where they teach useful skills such as design thinking and brainstorming, and even effective storytelling. We start from the point of a toy and think of toy qualities. And use this rather strange starting point as a springboard for interesting and novel product ideas. Other examples of platforms include ones based on design aesthetics, colours, packaging, branding and more.
In general, for our final submission (for design platforms), we often need to come up with at least a 3D mock-up or in some cases, we need to produce a physical model. It really depends on the nature of the project. Some require more hard skills than others and some even involve coding. For certain projects, they will ask us to finish the project in groups and for others we have to complete individual assignments.
We are graded per semester. In general, if I am not wrong, about 70% is based on teachers’ grading. The teacher who took you for the module will decide what deliverables you have to submit and they will grade you based on that. There is also an external grading component where the students will do a physical presentation on their projects with presentation slides. This will be graded by all the Industrial Design professors.
Now, because of COVID-19, the presentation is shifted online and there’s this common board where we post 3-minute videos of what our project is about. This is where communicating your project is very important. Honestly, not all professors teach you how to better communicate your project but they do try to help you. The way you communicate each project depends on the nature of the project. You do not need excellent animation skills for this. Some did super cool animation while others did more basic filming and editing but told their story very well.
We had a module called Theory and History of Industrial Design and some of the core modules involve learning about the manufacturing process of design. These are the theory-based modules. In those modules, we are graded based on a final exam. We will have a final paper and a mini-project where we do a simple design. However, in general, for design platforms at least, we are not really tested on the theory aspect.
Again, this depends on the professor and project. Some are more chill while others require more work for each session. For one module, I remember that we had to come with multiple prototypes every week. It also depends on how the professor grades. I remember one of my professors graded based on tenacity so the more prototypes you made, the better. Some teachers are more chill, but because they didn’t push us a lot at the start, it was a mad rush towards the end to catch up on our work. It’s an ongoing process to learn to pace myself better.
If I’m not wrong, I think it will be easier to take engineering modules if you like to. I think you will just have more freedom on how you want to tailor your curriculum to fit your interests but I don’t have a lot of details on it.
At the start, they will ask all the students to craft a proposal and you get to choose a professor that you want to be the mentor for your project. It’s also competitive in the sense that each professor can only take a certain number of students and you have to compete with other students. Every week, there are a certain number of deliverables to do but it’s also up to you and your professor on how you want to structure your timeline to complete your project on time. During the thesis year, they will also offer workshops that teach you how to make prototypes, how to communicate your project and more.
I would think that the final product of the Final Thesis Project should be as complete as possible. Most people would produce a physical product. It does not need to be a final product that can be sold in the market but at least a final product that you can see in real life on a real scale. Some people will 3D print it and paint it. Some people really send it to a company to help them produce it. It’s usually accompanied by a 3D mock-up on how the final thing would look like. These are things you will already get used to as you do during design platforms.
We do not really have lectures. We have a very small class size. In Year 1, we have tutorials in a small group where the class size is about 20. There will be a few weeks that are fully set aside for consultations and groups will consult their teachers about their projects. For design platforms, you have 10 or fewer people per class and one professor who looks over you. It’s very flexible. There are some weeks where the teacher will teach based on their own style and others where the students can present their progress on the project and the teacher can give their comments.
I think one usually begins with a love for creating/designing things. But of course in reality, enjoyment can fade when things get difficult, and it’s impossible to be 100% sure whether this field turns out to be something you want to see through to the end. I admit there is a risk there, but I believe Industrial Design (or any other course for that matter) may be seen as a springboard for what you are meant to do in the future, even if it ends up to be something completely different. For me, knowing that I would like to work in a creative field in the future, I try to take this as a space to accumulate as much knowledge, experience, and skills as I can. What really helped me push through tiredness and overcome failures, was remembering that I want to graduate as a better designer, rather than just someone with better designs. Sometimes, it is okay to take a longer time/path to learn something.
People end up doing a lot of things. They can work in design consultancies, firms such as STUCK design, or even big companies. For example, in DBS, they have their own design teams who do UIUX (User Interface, User Experience) design. I think UIUX and graphic design are things that firms really need now. Others end up being entrepreneurs and make their own products and companies. You can also do visual merchandising and decide how to showcase make-up in make-up stores. There are also those who take on the jobs that are more on the coding side…becoming developers and doing game design. It’s quite broad and there are many options.
I would not say employability is super high but it has definitely improved compared to the past. I think there are more options now. I would not lie and say the starting pay is good either. Every year, NUS comes out with a list of the % of employees that get employed and to be honest, Industrial Design is on the lower side compared to others.There are quite a lot of employment opportunities available but I wouldn’t say you can expect to start off with a very high starting pay.
Within design, I think it offers a lot of flexibility to do different types of design and it isn’t fixed on a certain type of design. Increasingly, today, employers are looking for people who possess different kinds of skills who are able to transfer these skills between different areas of design. To a certain extent, it is up to you and how much initiative you have to build the skills that you need.
The modules are very diverse and you get to choose from very diverse options. I really enjoyed my stay there and Tembusu stays true to the “Home of Possibilities”. Generally, the community is quite accepting of diversity and I enjoyed the community there. There was a house system where we split into 5 houses and you get to know people through events organised by the house committees. There are also interest groups which you can choose based on your interests.
It was actually quite heavy and a big struggle for me personally. It also depends on the Tembusu modules as some modules have a heavier workload than others. For me, I happened to end up with modules that were more intense. The modules were intense because the professors were really passionate about it and really wanted us to learn. In a sense, it came with high expectations and the way they designed the seminar meant the seminars had more deliverables. Though it was difficult, I wouldn’t deny that I have gained a lot from the seminars. The seminar topics taught and learning experience is something I would not get an opportunity to access outside of tembusu. Generally, Industrial Design is known to have a very high workload. There is a lot of preparation you have to do for the projects. Normally, if you take a more academic course, the work that you get involves readings, watching lectures, assignments and things like that. But for Industrial Design, it’s more project based. The amount of time that you spend working on a project is often not proportionate to the progress you make. You spend so much time brainstorming but you still may not end up with an idea you are satisfied with.
I would still say it is possible to manage the RC modules with NUS Industrial Design. I would say the combination is still good because if I were to stay late in school to do studio work for Industrial Design, I had a college to go back to so it offered that convenience. Tembusu also has a Maker Space which has a lot of tools that can help you with prototyping and experimentation. They have a 3D printer, screwdrivers and other tools. I know the Architecture and Industrial Design students used the makers’ space a lot to do their projects. It was a journey but no one regretted staying in Tembusu because the experience that it gives you and the community you find outweighs the difficult workload.
I was in Tchoukball and Volleyball in Tembusu. I didn’t join a lot mostly because there’s a lot of workload in Industrial Design. At the start, I just tried a lot of different things and interest groups but as time passed by, I focussed on one or two. I think what I liked about Tembusu is that it is a very comfortable space to try something new. Most people who join the interest groups are beginners so they start from scratch. Unlike hall, there isn’t a pressure to commit so you can go wherever you want to. It is just a space to destress and enjoy the sport.
If we interact, it will only be through the GE modules There will be group work involved and for some of them, they will randomise the groups. But I feel it’s a very short-lived thing as I don’t really talk to people in that course anymore. We just had a work-based relationship. But that really depends because some people really find friends through this. The communities I am closer to are my Industrial Design friends and Tembusu friends and people in my interest groups. Industrial Design is really a bubble. There are just 50 of us in a cohort, which I appreciate, since it allows us to be a rather close-knit community.
If you don’t stay in RC or a hall, I would say it’s quite hard to know people from other courses unless you choose to join NUS CCAs. There aren’t any group activities for the School of Design and Environment. It’s just mostly orientation which is for all students but from there, it’s really up to you to maintain the friendship and keep in contact with people. For the faculty, there will be a committee that takes care of the Instagram page and organises events so if you join that, you can actually get to know others as well.
I would say you need a certain amount of passion to persevere through industrial design. What kept me going was the interest in this. Of course, some of you may be like me and may not be very sure what your interest is yet. There have been some cases where some classmates came to do the course and after a year, they decided this course was not for them and transferred to another course. Just continue talking to students, check out the Instagram page and the telegram channel to find out more about what their life is like and decide if this is something that you want to pursue and explore. But also know that there is still a possibility to change course.
For people coming to industrial design, a big thing for me here was learning to manage expectations. It’s very common to compare yourself to other people who are more skillful than us but sometimes it’s about not setting your expectations too high and knowing you’re in this space to learn. It’s honestly okay to fail sometimes. Do not put so much pressure in yourself to excel. Honestly, I really didn’t do well at first. A lot of people are very confused when they first enter university so there isn’t a need to put other people on a pedestal. A common thought is that other people look like they have things together but that’s not true. In a sense, everyone is figuring out things in their own way so you don’t need to feel scared. Just slowly learn and things will fall into place.
For people who want to find a consistent community and a close group of friends, going to an RC is a very good place to do so because I found very good friendships there. On top of the modules, what I learnt the most was from the people living there. And there are plenty of leadership opportunities in RCs that you can take on which I feel is not as daunting as on the NUS level.
I think university will be a place where you learn to be independent and you learn how to craft your own path. Beyond just academics and doing well in school, you need to think of what you want to get out of this university experience. Is it just simply having good grades and getting a good job? Think about your own life. I think it is worth it to invest in friendships and activities you are interested in. And it’s a time where you can find yourself and things you’re interested in. Don’t be afraid to try new stuff and take steps of faith to do things. Your time will pass by really fast. I feel like two years have already passed and there are some things I regret not having the courage to do. Learn as much as you can and also enjoy yourself in university!
The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the interviewees and do not reflect the official policy or position of any institution. They are also not intended to malign any religion, ethnic group, class, individual or organisation.
The information contained in this website is intended to provide general guidance only. It should not be relied upon as professional advice and does not 100% guarantee admission into any course.
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