Design Folders

Describing the context for your project, should be the first thing you do. It takes the form of a short paragraph that outlines the the situation you are going to investigate. If you are given a choice it is best to pick something that interests you personally because you will be spending a long time on this over the next few terms.

You should try to investigate the situation you have identified in order to try to identify a number of problems which might form the basis for your project.

Using criteria such as the degree of difficulty, you should try to analyse these potential problems to decide which one is the most suitable.

This is a statement of what you intend to design and make. It should be concise and clear, so that a moderator is in no doubt about what you are intending to do. It is important at this stage not to be too specific. It should be about the problem not a solution.

Analysis

Now you have a problem to solve you need to analyse it (break it into smaller parts) so that you can think about all the factors that will affect your solution. It is easier to tackle the design task if you split it into a number of more manageable pieces rather than trying to solve it all in one go. Write down: Who could use it. Where will it be used. What is important - does it need to be waterproof, lightweight, small in size.... How easy is it to get materials and how will they be used ?

Research

You can carry out research in a number of ways. The purpose of research is to clarify and provide answers to any questions raised by your analysis. You could for instance:

	Carry out experiments to try things out.
	Make models or 'mock ups' of your ideas
	Look at existing solutions to see how other designers have solved similar problems.
	Talk to potential users.
	Collect images, notes and other information from books, magazines, CD Roms, or the internet.

Careful collection and analysis of your research should help you to clarify your ideas and avoid delays later on. Make sure all your research is recorded and presented logically.

Specification

Your Specification should be a detailed list describing what you want your product to do and what it will look like. Write down the essential features:

What you intend it to do.

What you hope it will look like

How the product will be used

Any safety, legal or environmental requirements

You might also want to include some desirable features such as:

	Colour, size and shape
	A maximum cost

Other considerations might be:

	Available materials or equipment
	Time

You can use your specification to check your ideas as they progress so that you do not lose sight of what you originally set out to do and to enable you to make decisions about which of your ideas are best.

Initial Ideas

Your ideas should attempt to include answers to the problem outlined in the task analysis and meet as many of the performance requirements of your specification as possible.

You should try to produce a range of potential solutions, but they do not have to be different ideas for the whole product. You may have only one or two ideas for the basic shape, but several ideas for some of the finer details!

Use notes, sketches and other diagrams, to show your ideas. Try to sketch as you think. Quick outline sketches are perfectly acceptable at this stage they do not have to be formal sketches all the time - save these for your final development. Use colour to help you communicate your ideas and try to comment on the good and bad points of each idea.

Planning and D

Once you have generated your initial ideas, you need to choose which one you are going to develop and which ones you will reject. You should begin to re-draw your chosen idea developing it as you go.

It is at this stage that you start to consider in detail each part of your design. You should produce detailed drawings which include information on materials, components, dimensions methods of construction etc...

You will have to plan (make a flowchart) and then make the product you have designed. A good plan will ensure that most problems are avoided. Think about how you are going to make it and in what order things should be done.

This takes a long time but it will be much easier if you have followed the suggested outline.

You will probably find you will need to make some modifications to your original ideas.

You must record these and give reasons for why you made the changes, this will be needed for your evaluation.

Evaluation

Throughout your project you should be making notes and comments explaining the decisions you have made and evaluating your ideas, but after you have made your product you should produce a final evaluation which compares your finished product with your original performance specification. Ask yourself:

Does my product work in the way I intended? - is it reliable? - If not why not?

Is it easy to use? - is it clear what to do?

Does it look or feel right?

What do other people think?

Could it be improved? - How?

Common Themes

A number of common themes should be evident in your folder:

Communication Skills (including the use of ICT)

Systems and Control

Industrial Practices

They are not areas to be covered, but they will be assessed.

Communication skills range from the effective use of Spelling Punctuation and Grammar to the use of Computer Aided Design (CAD) programs, spreadsheets and databases etc.

You will almost certainly have access to some CAD facilities try to use them to present part of your design work. In Industry CAD is used extensively in design. It can be used to draw and model in both 2 and 3 dimensions, changes can be easily made and modelled. As well as the obvious advantages of assisting the design process CAD techniques can be linked to CAM techniques to create integrated design and manufacture techniques.

CAD is used to in industry to calculate material and production costs. You might be able to use CAD and other techniques such as spreadsheets to produce cutting lists to help you calculate material costs for your own project.

Systems and Control will often feature strongly in Electronic Products because of the nature of the product being designed. In Resistant Materials or Graphic Products it is less obvious how systems and control can be included 'naturally'. Perhaps the best solution is to investigate systems of production (particularly Computer Aided manufacturing Systems). How systems are used to control the quality of mass produced products. How systems for 'just in time' manufacture operate etc.

Throughout your project their will be opportunities to mention Industrial Practices.

As an example you might be using vacuum forming in school for manufacturing a case for an electronic circuit. In Industry the same case would almost certainly be designed and manufactured using injection moulding so that larger quantities could be made using automated techniques.

You might use a template or jig to help you replicate a particular process. Jigs, fixtures and templates are widely used in industry to increase the speed, accuracy and consistency of production.

You will almost certainly be involved in 'one off' or prototype production, but you should try to consider how using 'mass' or 'batch production' would affect the design and manufacture of your product.

You might be lucky enough to have access to Computer Aided Manufacturing (CAM) equipment. Try to use this to manufacture part of your project. discuss the advantages of using CAM facilities.