Design education often stops at concept, but where does a product actually go after that? Last week, Ideate, in collaboration with IKEA, took 53 design students from Woxsen University behind the scenes at IKEA Hyderabad to find out. Students from Industrial Design, Interior Design, Communication Design, and Fashion Design came together for a guided store walk exploring layout, visual merchandising, and product display strategy, followed by an expert-led session where IKEA specialists explained how a product travels from design and sourcing all the way to the retail floor.
The biggest takeaway for most students was supply chain, a part of the design process that is rarely covered in the classroom. Seeing firsthand how sourcing, logistics, and inventory decisions shape store layout and product availability gave students a far more grounded sense of how design decisions scale in a real retail environment. Students also came away with a clearer understanding of how supply chain constraints shape product and packaging design, direct exposure to visual merchandising and store design principles in practice, and a sharper sense of the retail marketing decisions that shape customer experience at scale.
The cross-disciplinary mix of students meant the same space was interpreted through very different design lenses, sparking rich conversation throughout the day. The visit closed with participation certificates, a copy of IKEA's Design Handbook for every student, and IKEA's signature soft serve.
None of this would have been possible without the support of the Office of SOAD, whose backing was instrumental in facilitating this collaboration, along with the IKEA Hyderabad team for hosting and curating such a thoughtful experience. This is exactly the kind of learning Ideate exists to create, one that takes design education beyond the classroom and into industry, and we look forward to building on this partnership in the future.
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