Design Development: A Basic Guide and Checklist for Students

Welcome to a simple guide on the “Development” phase of the design process! 

In this video, we explore the essential steps to fine-tune and finalize your design concepts, ensuring your project is ready for realisation and presentation.

Watch the video HERE

1. A Basic Guide to Design Development

The “Development” phase is where you transform your initial ideas into detailed, workable designs. Here’s what you need to focus on:

• Shape and Form: Refine the aesthetics and ensure ergonomic usability.

• Functionality: Test and improve features to ensure reliable performance.

• Material Choice: Select materials based on strength, flexibility, and sustainability.

• Color Scheme: Choose colors that enhance the design’s appeal and functionality.

• Jointing Methods: Determine the best techniques for assembling your design.

• Finishing Methods: Apply appropriate treatments to protect and enhance your design.

• Detailed Documentation: Prepare comprehensive production plans, working drawings, and presentation boards.

2. A Simple Checklist for Students

Use this checklist to ensure you’ve covered all necessary elements in your design development:

• Shape and Form refinement

• Functionality testing and improvement

• Material selection and justification

• Color scheme planning

• Jointing methods determination

• Finishing methods application

• Detailed production documentation

By following this guide and checklist, you’ll be well-prepared in your Design & Technology coursework. Remember, a thorough development is the key to creating a successful and remarkable design.

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Brief Introduction to the Design Process from Design Situation to Design Opportunities

Introduction to the Design Process

The design process is a journey that starts with a design situation and ends with design opportunities. This blog post will guide you through each step of this process, using real-world examples and interactive elements to make it engaging and easy to understand.

Steps in the Design Process

Identifying the Design Situation

Every design process begins with a design situation. This could be a problem or a need that exists in the world. For example, in a kitchen, a common design situation might be the difficulty of opening a tightly sealed jar. 

Research Methods: To understand the design situation, we need to conduct research. This could involve observing people in the kitchen, conducting interviews, or even shadowing someone as they go about their kitchen tasks. 

Defining the Design Need

From the design situation, we identify the design need. In our kitchen example, the need might be for a tool that makes it easier to open tightly sealed jars.

Research Methods: To understand the design need, we might conduct surveys to find out how many people struggle with opening jars, or we might experiment with different methods of opening jars to understand the challenges better.

Uncovering Design Problems

The design problems are the specific issues that need to be addressed to meet the design need. In our example, the problems might include the fact that some people don't have enough hand strength to open jars, or that some jars are sealed too tightly.

Research Methods: To understand the problems, we might use the "5 Whys" technique to get to the root cause of the issue. We might also conduct more interviews or surveys to gather more data.

Discovering Design Opportunities

Finally, from the design problems, we identify the design opportunities. These are the potential solutions to the problems. In our example, a design opportunity might be to create a jar opener that uses leverage to make opening jars easier.

Research Methods: To identify design opportunities, we might use techniques like brainstorming or mind mapping. We might also look at existing solutions and see how they could be improved.

Decision Making in the Design Process

After conducting research at each step of the process, we need to make decisions about how to proceed. This might involve choosing which design opportunity to pursue, or deciding how to refine a design to better meet the need.

Research Methods: Decision making often involves further research. For example, we might need to test different design ideas to see which one works best. We might also need to gather feedback from potential users.

Conclusion: Understanding the Design Process

Understanding the design process and the importance of research and decision-making is crucial for successful design outcomes. By applying these methods, you can become a better designer, able to create solutions that truly meet people's needs.

Quiz

1. What is the first step in the design process?

2. Why is research important at each step of the process?

3. Can you think of a design situation in your own life? What is the design need, what are the design problems, and what are some potential design opportunities?

Application Questions

1. Choose a room in your house (e.g., the living room, kitchen, toilet, storeroom, bedroom). Identify a design situation in that room, and go through the process of identifying the design need, design problems, and design opportunities.

2. Think about a common household item (like a jar opener). How could you improve this item? What research would you need to do? What decisions would you need to make?

SA1 & 2 | PRELIMs | National EXAMS - How to do Revision? I’ve got it COVERED for you.

It’s September 2022. The examinations are round the corner. All your graduating class seniors have completed and submitted their coursework. Everybody should be preparing for the exams and the major exams.

If you haven’t watch any of my self-help videos you can following this “link” to a series of playlist which includes topics on preparing for exams and the attitudes to learning and living in general.

Revision need not be just like how you had been doing. It can be done slightly differently. Especially if you are fond of doing 10 year series. In fact if you did last year’s national examination question and got it all correct, I will ask “So what?”. Since they will certainly NOT appear again this year.

A very common activity is to get students practice on papers after papers. But that can be quite limiting too. Taking exam papers from other schools, you will face the problem with quality of questions. And practicing on papers after papers may not be the most optimum way to ensure you have an excellent coverage on all the topics you need to know.

Before you look at the image below “TWO Different Ways to Revise” I need you to understand that no matter what happened or what your teachers did in class with regards to learning and all the fanciful fun strategies to make you learn or to ‘motivate’ you, ultimately the examination is about how much you can recall. 

You are on your own. You and the paper. That’s all. Full Stop.

You read the questions, you cannot recall the information. ZERO. Full Stop.

The following is NOT magic. The following is just common sense.

To recall, you need repetition. Of course understanding helps a lot too with memory. So it is still necessary that you actually understand those concepts which you need to know. Otherwise if time is not on your side, memorising them could be your next best bet to get some marks.

Committing everything to recallable memory at an instant, is what  you need right now.

We’ll leave holistic learning and life-skills aside for the moment. We are talking about taking the EXAMINATION NOW.

Have a look at the above image with the TWO ways you can revise your work. (1) Working with existing past examination questions, and (2) working with a textbook or a guidebook.

I won’t be explaining how you can do it because the diagram should be self-explanatory. More importantly you need to know why you are spending the time studying and revising. 

The “TWO Different Ways to Revise” would be a nice fresh alternative way you can use to revise your work. Otherwise another way is to use the internet as your learning platform. Watch some good videos on the topics you wish to learn.

Cheers. And all the best for your exams.

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Let me know in the comments what else you like to learn and watch.

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Cheat Sheet for Identifying Design Need | Situation | Opportunity

This is a Cheat Sheet (pun intended) for Identifying Design Need. But in no way cheating is happening at all.

This list of posts contains some of my thoughts and flow when it comes to facilitating identification of Design Needs for the Design & Technology Coursework (Singapore GCE Syllabus). 

Note: The original post with a comprehensive "Cheat List" has gone missing and I don't know why. If you have ever downloaded a copy and it is with you, please email me the attachment. Thanks very much.

The next best thing I can do is to compile the following taken from this same blog that should serve a similar purpose for 'Identifying Design Need'. Point 3 is the most interesting.

1) Finding Design Opportunities with On-Location Activities 
2) Using Activity Mapping
3) Reverse Design Needs & Opportunities
4) Blunders with Identified Problems

WARNING: 

1) This is too good to be true. 

2) This is a draft. 

3) Use with discretion or with your teacher's permission.

Thoughts on the 2020 D&T Syllabus - Coursework

I sense the ground as some expressed uncertainty on what to do for the new Design & Technology Coursework 2020. Some worried that their current proficiency in gaming the coursework might not work anymore. 

I can quite safely say that what is expected in the past and what should be done in the light of the new syllabus - remains the same - provided the motivation had not been one to game the system for maximum score - but to provide a unique practical exposure to solving real-world ill-defined problems as well as to tease out the potential of design'ability in our students.

We need to move forward with the new syllabus with a pair of new lens. The non-essential information and 'paddings' that are used to make the journal look good need to be filtered and are the first to be out in the trash. Clean that rubbish out and we are left with what is good to go. 

"What must we do so that the students can score in their coursework?" 

Answer: That's not a right question to ask. Instead it should be "How should I facilitate my students' coursework so that time spent and work done is as meaningful and authentic as it can be that aims to solve a real-world ill-defined problem."

Everything else essential and necessary for the beginning and ending is still present in the entire coursework. 

The following needs some getting used to but not entirely mind-boggling - an updated emphasis on sketching to design and the down regulation of the need for perfect technical working drawings and glossy prototypes. Some re-allocation of marks for the various coursework components (e.g. GDI, P.Boards, etc) and the relocation e.g. working drawings from PB to journal. 

So really, nothing to worry if you had been doing things right. 

Reframe and relearn if necessary about what is not required anymore, e.g. the paddings and the decor - aka the non-essentials. Hit the nail on matters that are absolutely essential and necessary for moving forward. 

Research when necessary. Sketch when necessary. Annotate when necessary. Mock-up and test and evaluate when necessary. Prototype test, evaluate and improve when necessary. That's really it - the New 2020 D&T Syllabus to Coursework.

My mind is clearer now that I put into words what I had been thinking. Hope this helps you in some way too. Let me know if this had helped you. Let me know if you have new thoughts or have alternative / opposing views.

Knowing that you have arrived at Design Development

When you start to look at the individual parts and connections, on details and confirming best choice materials and jointing methods, on optimum sizes and drawing out dimensions accurately, at the same time refining ergonomics, shapes, forms and colors to achieve maximum beauty and usability, you know, that you have arrived at the design refinement and development stage.