Merging product design and mechanical engineering approaches into a master lever “design studio” course.

—This paper describes and discusses the educational approach developed within the course “Product Design Development Studio 1” held at the Master Degree in Design & Engineering, an inter-faculty course of Politecnico di Milano where contributions from industrial design and engineering fields are present in both theoretical classes and design studios. The authors refer to two identical design studio courses that run in two parallel sections at the first semester of the first year. The aim of the course is to teach students to develop innovative industrial products. At the basis of the course stands the principle of integrating the teaching of fundamental knowledge of Design and Mechanical Engineering disciplines. The main idea is that the creative, aesthetical, and user-centered design approach should work hand-by-hand with the analytic and precise mechanical approach. In this article, the authors show the result of the past courses, discussing the pro and the cons of such an experience; then they self-assess their work aiming at verifying the process and tools of the disciplinary cooperation.