The 2° Level Academic Diploma Course in Product Design – Food & Beverage Design is a two-year program that addresses the different features of design for the food sector, approaching them with the design methodology.

The goal is to prepare professionals for the Food & Beverage sector capable of designing products and brands, supporting them in defining their identity, developing and designing services and experiences.

The study plan is developed on very specific topics, able to provide a 360° view of the reference sector and the required skills. Skills that, in recent years, with the technological and communication development and with the surge of sectors such as e-commerce, are among the most requested and necessary so that the world of food and wine can find itself more and more ready for global competition. Skills that, even if the world of industry has already valued for some time, are often lacking in artisanal realities, perhaps in family businesses that follow every aspect of work but without having a complete and correct view of the system. Family businesses and small businesses that are part of the great Italian culture, of its “Made in Italy” and of the food and wine variety appreciated worldwide.

Product design is the cornerstone of the course. Students will acquire the conceptual and instrumental knowledge to activate critical and analytical processes towards the scenarios of contemporary society and, in relation to these, to produce innovation processes in products and services. Thanks to an interdisciplinary approach, the skills that allow one to manage the project in its overall process are developed: from the analysis of the general context for the identification of social and cultural needs, to the control of the set of technological-productive and market processes. Students are encouraged to develop a critical awareness of the market, aimed at encouraging, through the design of products, services and strategies, forms of greater social equity and respect for natural resources and the environment, an aspect that in recent years is very important for the entire production system linked to Food & Beverage.

Ample space is given to the design of environments for food. The objective of the teaching is to transmit the skills to intervene on the design of spaces for food, from retail to catering places. In this case the common tendency is to work and design with a concrete focus on sustainability, trying to always put the customer at the center of a system in which every detail revolves around the construction of an experience.

Students are guided through a systemic vision of design aimed at enhancing product innovation. Thanks to the different design areas, they have the opportunity to develop managerial skills, project planning, and coordination and direction of the various skills that contribute to the development of innovative processes.

Topics covered include Events Design, with a focus on the design of events for Food & Beverage: today companies present their products to the public ever more often in stands and fairs, which have become important places in which they express and communicate their vision, corporate values ​​and mission. Multimedia languages ​​and e-commerce design have also rapidly increased in importance in communications and marketing.

The other key theme of the course are languages, considered as a system of expressive methods that characterize and are an integral part of the project. Communication has a significant weight in the 2° Level Academic Diploma course in Product Design – Food and Beverage Design. The goal is to lead students to solve the problems related to the communication skills of objects of use, both material and virtual, considered in their interaction processes with the user. The design of the human-product/service interaction experience is an essential element of the path starting from the information structure, to arrive at interactive design and user interface.

The path is characterized by various project activities. Students will be asked to engage in interdepartmental activities through workshops and multidisciplinary projects developed in collaboration with students of one or more of the other 2° Level Academic Diploma courses (Branding Communication / Interior Design).

Upon completion of the academic journey, students will develop a final thesis project in collaboration with a real client of the reference sector.