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VCE Product Design and Technologies (Year 11) · Unit 1 — Design Practices · 11m read

Design Thinking and the Product Design Process

A clear design process stops you jumping to the first idea. It is the backbone of every Product Design task from Unit 1 to the Year 12 school-assessed task.

Learning objective: Use design thinking and a structured design process to move from a need to a tested product.

By the end of this lesson you can:

  • I can describe the stages of a product design process.
  • I can explain divergent and convergent thinking.
  • I can write a design brief with constraints and considerations.

Opening and closing doors. Design thinking alternates between opening doors (many ideas) and closing them (choosing the best). The Double Diamond model shows this twice: once for the problem, once for the solution.

Process and brief

DOUBLE DIAMOND
• Discover (diverge) — research the problem and users.
• Define (converge) — write a clear problem statement and design brief.
• Develop (diverge) — generate many ideas, sketch and model.
• Deliver (converge) — select, prototype, test, produce and evaluate.

DESIGN BRIEF
• Context and end user(s).
• Need or opportunity.
• CONSTRAINTS — fixed limits (budget, size, time, materials available).
• CONSIDERATIONS — factors to weigh (function, aesthetics, safety, sustainability, cost).

EVALUATION CRITERIA — questions drawn from the brief that you use to judge ideas and the final product (e.g. "Can a Year 7 student open it with one hand?").

Worked example (Medium)

Write one constraint, one consideration and one evaluation criterion for a bedside phone stand.

  1. Constraint. Must be made from a single 300 × 200 mm sheet of 6 mm plywood.
  2. Consideration. Should suit the bedroom’s aesthetic and be easy to clean.
  3. Criterion. Does the stand hold the phone securely at a viewable angle while charging?

Answer: Constraint: one plywood sheet; consideration: aesthetics and cleaning; criterion: holds phone securely while charging.

Common mistakes

  • Writing the brief around a solution "Design a wooden phone stand" limits ideas. Fix: Describe the need: "a way to view and charge a phone safely at night".
  • Evaluation criteria that cannot be tested "Is it good?" cannot be judged. Fix: Make criteria specific and measurable where possible.

Practice questions

  1. A fixed limit such as a maximum budget is a:

    1. Consideration
    2. Constraint
    3. Evaluation criterion
    4. Prototype

    (1 marks)

  2. Generating many ideas before choosing is called:

    1. Convergent thinking
    2. Divergent thinking
    3. Production
    4. Evaluation

    (1 marks)

  3. Explain the difference between a constraint and a consideration, with an example of each.

    (2 marks)

Summary

  • Double Diamond: discover, define, develop, deliver.
  • Diverge to explore, converge to decide.
  • Brief: context, user, need, constraints, considerations.
  • Evaluation criteria come from the brief.

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