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Master of Integrated Product Design

M:IPD Degree

Who's It For?

Future entrepreneurs and intrepreneurs who want to learn product design and work across disciplinary boundaries to address the world’s most interesting, complex and important problems through designing and developing extraordinary products.

Academic Focus

The M: IPD provides students from engineering, design or business backgrounds with expertise in a human-centered design process that leverages their existing skills and enables them to develop new ones.

Designed to ground students in the disciplines of product design while allowing them to tailor their learning experience to meet their individual goals. M:IPD students take both integrated courses designed specifically for the degree and single discipline courses that provide more in-depth training in business, design arts or engineering.  Students wishing to focus on a particular kind of integrated product design may choose to follow an IPD track.

We welcome applicants who aren’t satisfied with the status quo, enjoy working in a collaborative environment, naturally make connections, and are passionate about their work.

Outcome

M:IPD graduates become successful leaders of innovation who can speak the language of design, engineering and business and act as translators between disciplines. They are creative problem solvers with the skills to implement their solutions. They know how to build desirable, feasible and sustainable physical and digital products that people need, want and love.

Core Curriculum

The curriculum is comprised of 5 core courses and 5 additional courses, one each in design, business and engineering and two additional courses in any of the disciplines. Since the program is cross-disciplinary, students who do not have the requisite background in the three areas, engineering, design arts, and marketing/finance, may be required to enroll in additional foundational courses in these areas.

The core curriculum is comprised of 5 foundational courses that are required of all students regardless of their undergraduate degree:

  • IPD 551: Design Process (1st Semester) (1 CU)
  • IPD 552: Problem Framing (2nd Semester) (1 CU)
  • IPD 515: Product Design or IPD 514: Design For Manufacturability (1st year) (1 CU)
  • IPD 799: Final Project (3rd Semester) (1 CU)
  • IPD 799: Final Project (4th Semester) (1 CU)

For more information about design, engineering and business courses see the Course Directory. For guidance on the policies and procedures that govern the program see the  IPD Guidelines.

Student Testimonials

As an engineer, IPD enabled me to improve my technical skills and to get great exposure into the worlds of design and business. Many graduates go on to pursue a diverse set of career paths; I pivoted into business design where I now work on a team that leads digital transformation for a Global 500 company – something I could never have done without IPD.
Through the Integrated Product Design program at Penn, I was able to leverage my previous experience and background in architecture by amplifying my strengths and teaching me new ways to think, do, and see the world. People often say that what you do at work isn’t what you learn in school, but in my current role as an Sr. Service Designer at Kaiser Permanente, I am doing what I learned during my time at IPD every day in my projects by continuously problem solving, thinking creatively, and putting the needs of end users at the center of everything I design.
IPD broke down the boundaries between disciplines and provided me a new way of thinking. Taking what I learned in IPD, I was able to make the transition from Mechanical Engineer, to Design Researcher for digital products. I now bring a human-centered approach to all of my projects at work and contribute to innovative product strategy.
Yoav Rabino M:IPD 2017
Carissa LimM:IPD 2017
Kevin MartinM:IPD 2018

M:IPD Sample Schedule

A student entering into the M:IPD program with a background in design might take the following courses:

Summer Year 1
Fall Year 1
Spring Year 1
Fall Year 2
  • IPD 799

    Final Project 1

    Course Detail >

  • Engineering Elective

  • Business Elective

Spring Year 2
Learn Product Design in UPenn’s IPD Program

We welcome applicants who aren’t satisfied with the status quo, enjoy working in a collaborative environment, naturally make connections, and are passionate about their work.

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