Product Design Assignment Introduction Your design assignment submitted

Product Design Assignment

Introduction Your design assignment submitted to the SQA. It will be a max of 8 sides A 3 paper

Contents of Design Assignment l Design situation. l Basic research information, such as lifestyle board, some ergonomic/ anthropometric data, various important sizes and dimensions. l A choice of design briefs complete with specification

Design Situation This is the beginning of your assignment. It is used to set the scene, giving assignment a sense of realism. Action required Read through and then reread, ID all words and phrases that could influence the design. Next formalise your thoughts, note down why these words are important and how they might affect your design. This will help your design being to general as well as creating more areas of development, reasoning and justifications. Hints: although you only have a limited time to do this work in the class this type of activity can be done at home, preparation for presenting and developing your initial ideas. Think, plan, research at home, use class time to present your ideas

Design Situation Other hints and tips: Look at the pictures this will help generate some ideas about aesthetics and help guide the direction of the aesthetics. Look at the picture and a basic idea of a theme should be clear. Think, plan, research at home, use class time to present your ideas

Research A large part of assignment depends on how you incorporate the research information into your assignment. You will be supplied with visual information, mood/ lifestyle board, expected to steer the aesthetic direction. Decisions about aesthetics should be justified by reference to these boards and/ or design situation. Ergonomic and anthropometric data tables are given to help in research, use these as reference when deciding position, size and scale of your design. Other research information will relate to more specific set tasks i. e. manufacture, the environment, additional sizes, limiting factors etc.

Research Hints and tips: Analyse the mood/lifestyle board, ID any prominent styles, fashion, materials and colours. It could be helpful to list words that come to mind when looking at visual images and can be used to influence ideas and trigger development decisions. Note down/ highlight anthropometric data that is important and how it will effect your design. Try to ID other information that could impact on your design in terms of function, aesthetics and manufacture. If a logo is given this could be used to create a corporate ID.

Choosing a Design Task Read the four tasks carefully, what appears to be the easiest does not always offer scope for investigation and development, necessary to complete the assignment successfully. Good design briefs offer scope to investigate, explore and develop ideas and solutions through consideration of function, aesthetics environment and manufacture. All will be influenced by the design situation, research material and specifications supplied. Don’t pick a task because the solution quickly comes to mind. REMEMBER you are being assessed on your application of the design process. Come up with a solution to quickly removes the need to investigate, and makes you reluctant to come up with ideas.

Choosing a Design Task Hints and tips; Make an informed choice: chose a task that has balance of factors which you feel will give best potential for further development. Read each task and note down: Functions and features suggested by research material and specification. l Important or desirable aesthetic considerations suggested by research material. l How environment will affect function, aesthetics and manufacture of product. l Any constraints created by specification. l

Choosing a Design Task More hints and tips; Choose a task that you feel has: Functional features that are going to be effected by the environment, user group and target market, this will require further investigation into areas such as ergonomics, durability and maintenance. l Aesthetic direction that may influence product’s shape, size, choice of material, etc, which will in turn create the need for more research and investigation. l Environmental considerations that will impact both the design’s function and aesthetics l Manufacturing issues that could affect research and specification supplied. l

What are you Expected to Produce Once you have chosen your task, before starting your assignment , it is worthwhile outlining what you are being asked to produce, why you are being asked to produce it and how it will be assessed. Remember this is not an assessment of talent, this is an assessment of your understanding, implementation and skills of relating information on your design. The design assessment is split into 3 sections Section 1: Initial ideas. l Section 2: Development towards a design solution. l Section 3: l ¡ ¡ ¡ Use appropriate communication techniques to convey information regarding the idea generation and development. Clearly justify the reasons for decisions taken throughout the folio. Effectively communicate the proposed solution

What you are Expected to Produce (Marks) Your folio will be marked holistically, meaning you gain marks from initial ideas through to final solution. Changes showing consideration will be awarded a mark for development. If through development a new idea is shown sending work in a different direction this will be awarded marks in the initial ideas section. All graphic or written communication are awarded marks throughout the assignment as are reasons and justifications. Although marks are awarded in sections your design should flow and develop naturally throughout the folio.

Section 1 : Generating Initial Ideas Useful Skills: Research, analysis, evaluation, lateral thinking, quick freehand sketching, 3 D drawings Useful knowledge: Important design factors, Mood boards, technology transfer, materials. You are being assessed on ability to generate ideas relating to design task. Simply generating a number generic ideas may not gain high marks.

Section 1 : Generating Initial Ideas Getting started: Keep your ideas simple to begin with. Consider all areas in your initial idea generation. Your analysis should create lists of important factors/ features, use this information to generate your ideas. Annotate your ideas to draw attention to how you have researched your ideas showing how they are relevant to the design task. Collecting visual information to help generate different ideas which encourages creativity