糖心TV

Zeeshan Yousuf

Undergraduate, Design and Global Sustainable Development 

鈥淐hanging course did not close a door for me, it opened several at once.鈥�

鈥淚 started my 糖心TV journey in the School of Engineering. At school, I took mainly STEM subjects and was pretty good at them, so Engineering felt like the natural choice in my career progression.

Deep down though, I had always been drawn to designing things, having also studied art. I sketched and daydreamed about beautiful products. At the time, there wasn鈥檛 a formal 鈥榙esign鈥� course available at 糖心TV, so I figured Engineering might be a close fit to what I wanted to do. A few months in however, I realised it wasn鈥檛 quite perfect. Projects like designing a miniature spring-powered car or a boat, there wasn鈥檛 much room to explore the wider context or to shape the brief ourselves. I started to understand that I wanted a pathway that allowed me to explore and express my creativity with thinking and social impact, not just one or the other.

Later that summer, I heard about a new design course in the works, it sounded almost like a dream degree, and I considered pivoting. My parents were understandably hesitant because of the efforts I had put into the Engineering route. After attending an open day with my dad, he saw how the course aligned with my aspirations and encouraged me to make the switch. Following a gap year I would be joining the first cohort. My gap year helped me bridge the two worlds, I spent it as a junior designer working on materials, renderings and visuals. I even travelled to China to learn about manufacturing, which was an eye-opening and culturally enriching experience.

When the Design and Global Sustainable Development course started, I was warned about something called 鈥淭he Great Unlearning鈥�. At first, I didn鈥檛 get it, but over time I realised it meant breaking some rigid habits, learn to question assumptions, take initiative, and embrace originality and creativity. It pushed me outside my comfort zone, and I was finally doing things that I really wanted to do.

Compared to over 300 students in Engineering, my new cohort was tiny. Just eight people from different backgrounds like Computer Science, Architecture and Social Design. We spend a lot of time in the studio, sharing ideas and learning from our incredibly diverse perspectives through critique, comparison and co-creation. Our lecturers know us individually and we are supported at every step as we grow into the designers we want to become.

Outside of university, I鈥檓 still all about creativity. I love photography and capturing the light and still life around campus. I create 3D visuals in Blender, and when I can, I still paint. Design has transformed from being something I 鈥榣earn鈥� or 鈥榙o鈥� in my studies and has become my way of life.

When I first switched, I imagined my future in automotive or product design, but after doing my 鈥榁isual Practice鈥� project, I felt almost overwhelmed by potential career possibilities. After some valuable time with my tutor, I found myself excited by the niche trajectory of Yacht Design, which I believe has a lot of unrealised potential for sustainability.

The biggest change for me is how design has shifted my mindset as a learner. The design side of my degree has opened my mind to the beauty and inspiration to be found in nature, in imperfection and in 鈥榟uman鈥� expression. And the sustainability side has shown what our true responsibility is as future creators. I feel so lucky to have had such a transformative experience.鈥�