Design Technology – Product Design

What should you do to improve your work in this subject?

When researching:

·  Collect and select relevant information from a number of sources.

·  Where possible collect and select research which is both primary and secondary in nature.

·  Make clear your reason for choosing the particular research and always acknowledge the source using a bibliography.

When analysing products:

·  Be critical but do not criticise. Try to put yourself in the mind of the designer who created that product and analyse why they made the choices they did.

·  Use helpful acronyms like CAFÉ QUES or ACCESS FM to provide you with prompts for areas that you might comment on.

When developing outline design criteria:

·  Make sure your criteria relate directly to your research.

·  Justify each criterion by explaining why it is important and how it may affect your designing.

·  Use acronyms like CAFÉ QUES or ACCESS FM to help you with developing a full list of design criteria.

When designing:

·  Make sure you have a clear design strategy to help you as a starting point to creativity.

For example:

1.  Using an inspiration board which contains many alternative ideas/materials/patterns;

2.  Using geometric grids to create shapes;

3.  Using organic shapes from nature as a starting point for forms or patterns;

4.  Using collage or other media to produce ideas quickly;

5.  Using the principles of proportion (The golden ratio - 1:1.61).

6.  Use appropriate technical language when annotating ideas.

·  Annotate ideas with comments that relate to your outline design criteria. Comments about suitability to your target market, potential materials and potential construction methods.

·  Show an awareness of social, moral and environmental issues in the designing and annotation of ideas. Consider sustainability and the product life cycle when choosing components and materials.

When modelling ideas:

·  Make several quick ‘soft’ models to test ideas.

·  Where possible use CAD/CAM to produce more complete prototypes.

When planning and making:

·  Demonstrate a wide variety of skills during practical work.

·  Use tools safely and skilfully.

·  Plan your work independently to produce accurate and outcomes of a marketable quality.

·  Use and evidence quality control checks throughout your practical work to maintain consistent quality.

When testing and evaluating:

·  Compare your product to existing solutions.

·  Use your outline design criteria to analyse the success of the product you have designed.

·  Evaluate and test your product in situ and document appropriate comments. Identify a number of key weaknesses and suggest improvements.

Additional Enrichment Ideas

Activities

After you have completed all set work you should engage in activities to make you a more successful designer. Below are some suggestions to help.

1.  Practise modelling techniques. Use materials at home to model different products, for example using card and tape to model a chair or plasticine to model a door handle. Modelling also includes drawing, so you should do lots of sketching using isometric crating.

2.  Disassemble products to find out how they work, what they are made from and why specific materials were chosen. Take photos of the disassembled products and add notes that explain your findings. Make sure you don’t take apart anything that is still needed!

3.  Practise sketching. Use the isometric crating method to construct 3D drawings of objects at home. For example a simple object to sketch could be a book case, a more complex object could be a camera.

Software

Download the trial version of 2D Design from the internet and practise using it by going through the tutorials in the help menu.

Wider reading

The Design of Everyday Things by Don Norman

Designing Design by Kenya Hara

Universal Principles of Design by William Lidwell, Kritina Holden and Jill Butler

Useful websites

www.hidden-heroes.net

www.designmuseum.org

www.designcouncil.org.uk

www.technologystudent.com

TV series and documentaries

1.  Programs such as ‘Myth Busters’, ‘American Chopper’ and ‘How Its Made’ are excellent to help develop an awareness of how designers think and how products are manufactured.

2.  ‘The Genius of Design’- A five part series about the history of industrial design from the BBC.

Places to Visit

The Science Museum

The Design Museum (open all year round)

Design Technology – Product Design Year 9