The Design Brief (and deeper insights)

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There is no ONE way to approach a design journal. How do I start? Where do I start?

And the answer is, ANYWHERE & ANYHOW. 

But you must know what you are doing and how to do it. This requires a great deal of experience. Your teachers may be available to help. Otherwise, stick to starting from the beginning. Use the resources in this blog to help you along if you require further reading and insights.

It is perfectly possible to start your coursework with a design brief even before you have identified any design need. The N Level Normal (Technical) syllabus D&T coursework is such an example. This explains why the Design Brief post is here at this early stage of the coursework. In case you are wondering why.

This is also applicable to the N(A) and Express coursework.

While there is nothing wrong stating up front a design brief in the beginning of your journey, it is more important that you must know how to make progress. For example how to work back and forth to complete the information that you need, so the journal is complete.

Consultations & Bookings available if you need an help or boost. 

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A Design Brief is a concise statement stating what you intend to do. For D&T it is simply saying to yourself “I want to design and make a …”

This brief but powerful statement should also include primarily who the user(s) is and it’s location, what the solution is going to be, the intent of the solution, and the situation / problem the solution intends to solve. Without getting in too much details. While at the same time allowing a full spectrum of ideation possibilities.

Below is an example of a design brief:

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Design Brief

'Design and make a kitchen paper towel holder which will not take up too much space on the kitchen table and also will not hinder cleaning the kitchen top'.

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Take a step backwards, take a closer look and see what we can discover

In this case, you claim that the kitchen towel storage is taking up too much space.

If you set yourself a task to design a storage so that it 'does not take up too much space', what do you think that implies about the existing storage? - So, the size of the holder is really too big for the table? Really?

5 Whys

Use the 5 'Whys' and very soon you'll find out if the size of the storage is really the problem.

For example:

The kitchen holder is taking up too much space on the kitchen table.

Why the kitchen holder is taking up too much space on the kitchen table?

Because the table is currently cluttered with bottles of spices and for drying kitchen stuffs like pots and pans.

Why are those things on the table taking up space?

Because there are no other proper storage areas to cater for pots and pans. Can't put them on the floor to dry right? And where else can the spices go to? The whole kitchen is full of stuffs!

Why...

It does not need to go beyond the third 'why' to conclude that the size of the kitchen tower holder isn't the problem! Perhaps a new way of organizing stuffs in kitchen needs to be worked out. Or the solution could be as simple as working out redundant stuffs and getting them out of the way to make space!

Can you imagine if the solution ended with a brilliantly more compact kitchen tower holder? That doesn't solve anything. But a wasted effort to design something that isn't really doesn't meet the need of the problem.

Conclusion

As a rule of thumb, whenever you think you have identified design needs or design opportunities, they must automatically prompt you to research to support those claims. 

In case you jumped ahead, or inspirations struck, and you want to make a, say, an ERASER HOLDER because..., remember to take a step back, use the 5 'Whys' to make sure you nail the real need behind it.

So, at the end of the day... RESEARCH. Establish your claims. Prove and justify your claims. Refrain from simply writing some ambiguious design situation, need or brief that is not an outcome of good research.

Reminder

Researches should be well supported with photographs, images and purposeful annotations.