Co-designing cosmetics: Where Design and Pharmaceutical Science meet

Co-design workshop at Caulfield. Credit: Professor Ari Seligmann

In a Monash University first, 230 students from two entirely different disciplines, the Bachelor of Design and the Bachelor of Pharmaceutical Science, worked side by side for ten weeks, pairing scientific formulation with sustainable packaging design.

The elective Beyond Skin Deep: Co-designing Sustainable Cosmetics/Skincare Packaging challenged cross-faculty teams to co-design original skincare brands tailored to specific needs and target markets, before presenting to industry professionals at a final expo. The studio was led by Design Studio leaders Melinda Coombes and Dr Dave Trickey (Monash Art, Design and Architecture) (MADA), alongside Cosmetic Hub leader Dr Laurence Orlando (Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Science).

"Co-design is central to how we teach at MADA, and for the first time, our Bachelor of Design students teamed up directly with the Bachelor of  Pharmaceutical Science students in a dedicated co-design studio," says Coombes. "They took complex collection briefs and translated scientific parameters into tangible, user-centred solutions. It gave them firsthand experience of what strategic design looks like in practice."

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