Design Workbook Notes
Task / What to do / What to use / Page / Timescale / Marks/120
Initial Design Brief / State the problem that you have to solve. / Concise paragraph / 1 / 1 lesson / 5
Target Market / Identify who you are aiming your product at (age, background, sex, earnings, cultural group etc.). Justify why you have chosen that target Market. / Concise paragraph
Research / - What problem does the brief pose?
- Do any existing products solve the problem? How? How well? / Bullet points
Existing Product Research / Research existing products that relate to your brief. Analyse from the viewpoint of user, retailer manufacturer and designer:
- Purpose
- Function
- Performance
- Target audience / user
- Form / Aesthetics
- Materials
- Manufacture
- Scale of production
- Maintenance
- Ergonomics
- Sustainability (environmental)
- Technology involved
- Design faults (opportunities for improvement)
- Efficiency
- Compared to Competition
Costs
- Compare prices between different manufacturers
- Consider the relationship between what your target audience can afford and the costs of production
- Calculate total costs (production, packaging, distribution)
- Consider how to reduce costs (economies of scale, product life cycle, product evolution) / - Drawing
- Photography
- Notes
Final Design Brief / This explains why your product is needed. It should:
-outline the problem and who it affects
-describe the ‘needs’ arising from the problem
-explain what you intend to do about it (design and make…)
-describe how and where your product is likely to be used
At this stage you should not have solutions to the problem just state the parameters / Detailed concise paragraph
Design Specification / State the conditions that your designs must meet
- function
- aesthetics
- materials
- joining methods
- size / weight
- safety
- cost implications (materials, manufacture, packaging, distribution) / Bullet points / 2 / 1 lesson / 5
Task / What to do / What to use / Page / Timescale / Marks
/120
Initial design Ideas / - Be creative
- Try and do something new / different
- Use your research to help you decide what to put in and leave out of your design
- Make sure your designs answer the brief and adhere to the specification / - Free hand sketches
- Exploded drawings
- 2D / 3D rendered drawings / 3 / 2 lessons / 10
Developing Your Ideas / Choose the best design and refine and finalise the idea in great detail. Think about:
- Materials
- Dimensions
- Construction
- Manufacture
- Components
Aesthetic qualities
- colour
- texture
- translucency
- tactile
- surface
- shape
Mechanical Properties
- tensile / compressive strength
- durability (corrosion / wear)
- hardness
- ductility
- malleability
- electrical / heat conductivity
- heat resistance
- elasticity
Consider
- CAD / CAM, new production techniques, smart materials
- Finishes (laminating, painting, varnishing etc)
- How it would be produced in volume
Make modification and think about advantages and disadvantages of the design / - Free hand sketches
- Annotated sketches
- Formal drawings (orthographic, isometric, oblique etc.)
- Exploded drawings
- CAD
- Engineering drawings
- 2D / 3D rendered drawings
- Cross section drawings
- Make models and photograph them
- Experiment with different materials and techniques / 4-9 / 6 lessons / 25
Final Design / Produce HIGH QUALITY drawings to show exactly how your product will work and look. Render to show colour, surfaces, materials and 3D effects. / Use both hand rendered and IT based drawing techniques and 2D and 3D perspectives. Use exploded drawings where necessary to show how your product would be constructed. / 10-11 / 2 lessons / 10
Task / What to do / What to use / Page / Timescale / Marks
/120
Planning / Manufacturer’s Specification should be so clear that a stranger could pick it up and make your product on their own.
- Processes
- Techniques
- Materials
- Components
- Precise measurements
- Tolerances (the small margin of error that can be allowed in sizes of components for your product still to function well and fit together!)
- Finishes
- Quality Control
- Health and safety
- Resources
- Costings
- Volume production plan (how the manufacturing Specification would need to be altered to produce your product in industry)
Systems and Control
Input – what goes into the system
Process – what happens in the system
Output – the end result that meets the specification
Feedback – checks / tests to control quality of output
Production Plan: List
- each stage in detail
- how long each stage will take
- what needs to be prepared before each stage
- how you will ensure consistency and quality control
- any changes to production method to produce product in volume / - Sequence diagram
- Gantt Chart / 12 / 2 lessons / 10
Making / - Select and use a variety of materials, tools (hand and machine) and equipment
- Accurate manufacture
- Make modifications as necessary when solving problems and getting others opinions and advice (make models to test modifications)
- High quality product and finish
- Set up and use equipment safely and accurately
- Work safely (protective clothing, safety equipment, check set up of equipment, report faults, carry out risk assessment)
- Quality control (visual checks, appropriate materials, successful construction, correct finishing processes, accurate marking out and measuring, test against specification)
- Use CAD/CAM (Denford, Sewing machine, Stika)
Photograph each stage of production / - / 20 lessons / 90
Task / What to do / What to use / Page / Timescale / Marks
/120
Evaluation / - Cross reference from your specification
- Quality of design (shape, size, aesthetics, functionality, meeting needs, ease of use, maintenance, use of resources, impact on environment, ease of manufacture)
- Quality of manufacture
- Justify any modifications
- Test your product (functional, ergonomic, safety, anthropometric features)
- Evaluate sustainability (product life cycle, recycling of materials, re-using, repairing)
- Seek views of potential users
- Consider economic, social, environmental, consumption, waste, time saving (jigs etc.), quality, accuracy, parameter, tolerance issues (CNC) involved in producing your product on a large scale / in industry
- Study mass batch and single unit production relevant to your product
- Estimate costs of commercial production (evaluate your production proposals and designs based on this) / Formal writing / 13 / 2 lessons / 10
Improvements / - Recommend changes / modifications based on your evaluation / - Drawings
- Diagrams
- Notes / 14 / 2 lessons / 10
Record / Show each stage of the making process with photographs / 15