Product Design Academy

This three week hands-on program is designed for students to research, brainstorm, prototype, and design a new to the world product through the lens of the Design Thinking process. Students will gain technical prototyping skills utilizing the Studios@Venture Labs, a collection of workspaces and labs that house digital and analog fabrication technologies that empower students to make their ideas a reality. Students will also be introduced to entrepreneurial concepts on how to launch their idea and create a business around their product. Throughout the program, students will utilize the Design Thinking process to conduct user research to develop ideas for new to the world products – there is no requirement to already have an idea for a product in mind. Students will then work in teams around promising ideas to further develop and prototype the ideas into products as the keystone project for this course. In parallel, students will work on a series of individual prototyping skills building exercises and mini-projects to learn CAD design to utilize laser cutting and 3D printing services. Each summer, Product Design students: Gain technical prototyping skills through the use of fabrication technologies Challenge assumptions by identifying and redefining problems in order to create innovative solutions Conduct user research to aid in developing new products Create physical prototypes that test and validate ideas Learn CAD design and human-centered design solutions Explore historic Philadelphia and experience college life on Penn’s Ivy League campus