Three new promotional items for Brno University of Technology were developed in an unconventional way—as part of a studio course for master's students in Industrial Design at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering. The designs selected by the Rector's Office have now progressed to their first prototype production series.
The collaboration began informally during the Majáles student festival. “We met Jiří Dukát there, who is responsible for the university merchandise, and started talking. We discussed what BUT currently offers and agreed that it would be great if the faculties had their own original promotional items with a story behind them,” explains Pavol Lupták, designer and lecturer at the Institute of Machine and Industrial Design.
One conversation led to another, and Lupták incorporated the assignment into his studio course the very next semester. Over the course of nine weeks, the students went through the entire design process—from selecting a theme and creating initial sketches to developing digital models and producing physical prototypes. “They worked step by step. It was important that the final products could actually be manufactured using the technologies available at the faculty,” Lupták adds, noting that each student submitted a product presentation along with one final prototype.
The three designs selected for a pilot production series of ten units each were a mobile phone stand by Lukáš Bláha, a pen holder by Denisa Páleníková, and a headphone stand by Miroslav Pleskal. All three make use of 3D printing, a technology students often choose because of its accessibility and rapid production capabilities, and were manufactured in the strojLAB workshops at the institute.
The BUT Rector's Office sees the collaboration as a meaningful step toward the systematic development of university merchandise. “We have long sought to ensure that BUT promotional items are not merely carriers of visual identity, but also have their own story and reflect the university environment. Involving faculties and students is a natural way to achieve this goal. At the same time, it creates opportunities for original products that can authentically represent individual parts of the university while fitting within the overall BUT brand framework,” says Jiří Dukát from the BUT Marketing Department.
According to Lupták, working on a real-world assignment brings unique value for students. “It is more engaging than purely simulated projects. At the same time, students encounter the constraints of a real client—they must consider production costs and technological limitations, which naturally guide their creativity. That's why I believe it is important for them to experience both during their studies: working on real products as well as projects where the only limit is their imagination,” says Lupták.
In addition to the winning designs, the studio produced a wide range of other concepts, including a cable organizer, a laptop stand, and a card holder.