Year 9 | Design & Technology | Design & Make

Desk Organiser Project

Name: ....................................................................................

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Design Need ‘Sort Students Out Inc.’ is a company specialising in products for students. Through their research they have identified that most students’ desks are a mess! Students do not have anywhere to put their stationary, such as pens, pencils, erasers, paperclips etc. Some students put this stuff in an old cup while most just have it scattered all over their desks. ‘Sort Students Out’ want you to design and make a cool organiser for students to store their stationary. They want you to design something really clever that uses as little plastic as possible, and it must of course appeal to teenagers – the target market.

Design Brief After a need has been identified, the next activity is to write the design brief. The design brief is a short statement of what needs to be designed. The design brief is given to the person who will design the product. It is often only one paragraph long. A good brief will state: What the product must do Who will use it who might buy it, known as the market for the product The things that might limit the design, known as constraints Some important features of the product The example below is a design brief for a child’s toy

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Desk Organiser Project

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Write a design brief for the desk organiser below

Analysing the design brief The next task is to analyse the design brief. The aim is to identify all the information you need to know to be able to design the product. This involves asking lots of questions about what is needed, for example: What does the product have to do? How might it do this? Who will use it? What else might be affected by it? How will it be used? Where will it be used? What could it be made from? How will it be made? One way to analyse the brief is to create a ‘word web’. This starts with the need in the centre. You then make branches for each question about what is needed. Many of these will have further branches off them, with more questions about the detailed needs of the design.

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Desk Organiser Project

Task Analyse the design brief for the desk organiser in the space below

Desk Organiser

Research The purpose of research is to collect all the information that you need to be able to design the product. The research you carry out should be relevant and analysed. Relevant means that you only investigate the things that you need to know. For example, if you know the product will be made from plastic there would be no point investigating the properties of metal Analysed means you should draw conclusions from your research. For example, ‘as a result of this research I have decided that my product...’

Different Types of Research What are the two main types of research?

Give examples of each type of research

Questionnaires A questionnaire is primary research. It is simply a list of questions. Questionnaires should start by asking if the people answering are potential users of the product. You might ask about age, gender and whether they would use the type of product being designed. You might then go onto ask questions about the colours they like, how much they might pay for the product etc.

Task You need to know the sizes of the stationary you are going to store in the desk organiser – otherwise how will you know what size to make it. Carry out research into the different stationary you might store in the organisers and more importantly, the sizes of those objects!

Product Analysis When you are designing a new product, there will probably already be products that meet similar needs. You can use these products as a source of information to help you design your product. Product Analysis involves investigating existing products. However, it is not just about describing them. It is about understanding why they are designed in a certain way.

ACCESS FM ACCESS FM is a way of remembering what you should investigate when analysing a product. Each letter stands for a different thing you should analyse. Look at the example of a task analysis using ACCESS FM on the following page.

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Desk Organiser Project

7 Task Carry out a task analysis on 4 different desk organisers. Also, think about any ways the product could be improved. Materials From the design need, given to you by Sort Students Out Inc. you already know your desk organiser will be made from plastic. However, there are many different types of plastic (you learnt about these in the Clock Project in Year 8) and plastics come in different forms. It is important to know which forms are available to you before you start designing. Your teacher will tell you what materials are available to you for this project. Make a record of them, including a sketch, in the space below. Remember to include the colours, sizes or amounts you are able to use for your project.

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Desk Organiser Project

8 Shaping and Joining Plastics You can make anything look possible as a drawing. Look at the picture below, we know it would be impossible to make this in real life! This is called an optical illusion.

When designing it is important to know how things can be made. Your teacher will demonstrate how plastics can be shaped and joined. Record what you find out in the space below. Oven

Strip Heater

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9 Adhesives

Vacuum Forming

Specification The specification is a list of all the needs that the product must meet; all the things it must do, have and be. The information listed in the specification comes from when you analysed the design brief and your research into materials, making processes, your research into what is actually going to be stored in the organiser, and what you found out from your questionnaire. Constraints It is especially important that any constraints are listed in the specification. For example, if you only had wood available, this would be a constraint. The specification will be used many times during later stages in the design process. For example: -

If there is a choice of possible designs, they might be compared against the specification to see which one is best. When the final product has been completed, the design will be compared to the specification to check that it does what it is needed to do

Look carefully at the example of a specification for an educational toy for a child on the next page, then write your own detailed specification.

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Example of a Specification

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Task Write a detailed specification in the space below. Start a new line for each new specification point

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Research Assessment Level 3 4 5 6

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Research Skills You have outlined the features of one product You have attempted researching existing products to a basic level. You have completed research into existing products to a very good level It is clear that you have considered the views of others You have included the most important points in your specification You have researched existing products in depth You have explained how you might use the findings of your research to design your desk organiser You have a detailed specification You have researched existing products in depth – explaining how this information might be useful You have researched similar products in depth – explaining how this information might be useful You have explained how you might use the findings of your research to design your desk organiser You have a very detailed specification which includes materials and manufacturing processes As above, but you have justified the points on your specification

Write in the space how you think you might be able to improve your research skills

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Self Assessment

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Sketching & Rendering You’re almost ready to get creative and start designing a range of solutions to the design brief. Before you do, your teacher will go through some sketching and rendering exercises with you so your designs look as good as possible.

Drawing Ellipses

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Crating and rendering

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Exploded View Exploded views show how a product fits together. It is also useful for showing all the individual parts

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Designing a range of ideas Now it’s time for you to start designing. Use a range of techniques – 2d sketching, isometric, exploded, line drawings and rendered – to communicate a range of ideas. Your sketches should have lots of annotation. Annotating your designs is very important as it helps explain your design thinking and help other people understand your ideas. Your annotations should include: -

Where you have used ideas that you have seen in other products Why you have made it look the way it does Constraints Costs How the idea meets the specification How it could be made What materials you might use An evaluation of your designs using the specification to see whether it is a good idea

Assessment Criteria Look carefully at the assessment criteria below

Level

Design Skills

4

You have generated some designs using limited drawing techniques. You have described your drawings.

5

You have generated a range of designs and have outlined the main features

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You have generated a good range of designs using a number of drawing techniques. You have included some explanation to these designs

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You have generated a range of feasible designs, with annotation. You have used a full-range of drawing techniques to communicate your ideas. You have clearly evaluated your designs against the specification. You have made a model and suggested improvements.

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You have generated a wide range of feasible designs, with detailed annotation. You have used a full-range of drawing techniques to communicate your ideas. You have clearly evaluated your designs against the specification. You have made a model and suggested improvements. You have justified the best design using the design specification.

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Self Assessment

Checked

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21 Modelling Making models of your design is an important part of the design process. A model is a representation of your design. Models have many uses: -

You can test how well different design ideas work Models give you an impression of what the finished item will look like You can test whether the features work how you would like You can identify where it might be difficult to make the design You can quickly make changes to your design to improve it

Modelling helps to make sure that the finished product is correct the first time you make it and it is usually cheaper than to make a finished product. Task Make a full-size model of your best design using card. Evaluating your design ideas Look critically at all of your designs and look back at your specification. In the space below evaluate your designs and choose the best one. Justify your choice.

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22 Cutting List So, you know exactly what materials you need and so you don’t waste valuable resources, you need to create a cutting list. A cutting list is a list of all the materials you need in order to make your prodcut. The list should include the exact measurements – including thickness, and the colour.

Evaluating and testing When you have finished making your product, you need to check that it meets all the needs you identified early in the design process. Functional Testing The first step in evaluating your product is to check whether it does what it is meant to do. One way of doing this is functional testing. This normally means trying out the product. Comparing the product to the specification Functional testing doesn’t usually cover all the needs that your product must satisfy. For example, it would not cover aesthetic appeal. To evaluate these needs you should test every need in the specification. Where possible, any testing should be objective. This means it should be based on facts not opinions. During the evaluaiton you might identify some needs that weren’t met, so you should suggest ways the product could be improved so it meets them in the future. Look at this example of evaluating a product against a specification

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Even of the product meets all the needs, there might be some things that you are not happy about. For example, this could be the quality of the finish or a shape that was difficult to make. This is normal – your skills and knowledge are improving all the time. Finally, you should also ask the target market what they think of the product. Task Evaluate your product using your specification. Create a set of tests similar to the example. Also identify areas that could be improved. Justify all your comments – be objective! Look at the assessment criteria

Level 4 5 6 7 8

Skills Identifies what is good about their product and suggests how they could make improvements Describes the success of the solution against the design specification based on relevant testing. Describes the impact of the solution on the client / target audience The student evaluates the product/solution and his or her own performance and suggests ways in which these could be improved. The student tests the product/solution to evaluate it against the design specification. Explains the success of the solution against the design specification based on authentic testing. Describes how the product could be improved. Describes the impact of the solution on the client / target audience The student evaluates the success of the product/solution in an objective manner based on the results of testing, and the views of the intended users. The student

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Self Assessment

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24 provides an evaluation of his or her own performance at each stage of the design cycle and suggests improvements. The student provides an appropriate evaluation of the impact of the product/solution on life, society and/or the environment.

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Making Skills Assessment Level 4 5 6

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Skills You have generated some designs using limited drawing techniques. You have described your drawings. You have generated a good range of designs using a number of drawing techniques. You have included some annotation to these designs You have generated a range of feasible designs, with annotation. You have used a full-range of drawing techniques to communicate your ideas. You have clearly evaluated your designs against the specification. You have made a model and suggested improvements. You have generated a wide range of feasible designs, with detailed annotation. You have used a fullrange of drawing techniques to communicate your ideas. You have clearly evaluated your designs against the specification. You have made a model and suggested improvements. You have justified the best design using the design specification. The student competently uses appropriate techniques and equipment. The student follows the plan and justifies any modifications made, resulting in a product/solution of appropriate quality using the resources available.

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Checked