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VCE Product Design and Technologies (Year 12) · Unit 3 — Ethical Product Design and Development · 12m read

The Product Design Process — From Need to Product

Everything in Product Design and Technologies hangs off the product design process. Your SAT folio follows it, and exam questions ask you to explain and apply it.

Learning objective: Describe the stages of the product design process and how designers move between them iteratively using design thinking.

By the end of this lesson you can:

  • I can describe each stage of the product design process.
  • I can explain why design is iterative.
  • I can relate the process to my school-assessed task (SAT).

Design is a loop, not a ladder. Designers test, learn and go back — a prototype that fails sends you back to research or ideas, and that is a good thing.

Stages of the process

  • IDENTIFY A NEED or opportunity — who is the end user and what problem do they have?
  • DESIGN BRIEF — the context, needs, constraints and considerations.
  • RESEARCH — users, existing products, materials, processes, sustainability, ethics.
  • EVALUATION CRITERIA — measurable questions to judge design options and the final product.
  • DESIGN IDEATION — generate many ideas (sketching, mind maps, models).
  • DESIGN OPTIONS — develop and evaluate options against the criteria; choose a preferred option.
  • PROTOTYPING and PROOF OF CONCEPT — test function, materials and processes.
  • PRODUCTION PLANNING — working drawings, materials list, sequence of production, risk management, timeline.
  • PRODUCTION — making the product, recording modifications.
  • EVALUATION — judge the product and process against the criteria.

Design thinking models such as the Double Diamond (discover, define, develop, deliver) describe the same divergent-then-convergent pattern.

Worked example (Easy)

Place each activity in a stage: (a) interviewing an elderly user, (b) writing "Is the handle comfortable for arthritic hands?", (c) testing a cardboard mock-up.

  1. (a). Research (user needs).
  2. (b). Evaluation criteria.
  3. (c). Prototyping/proof of concept.

Answer: (a) research (b) evaluation criteria (c) prototyping

Common mistakes

  • Treating the process as strictly linear Real design involves going back and refining. Fix: Show iterations in your folio with reasons.
  • Writing evaluation criteria that cannot be answered Criteria must be measurable or testable. Fix: Write criteria as specific questions linked to the brief.

Practice questions

  1. Which document sets out the context, needs and constraints of a design problem?

    1. Working drawing
    2. Design brief
    3. Cutting list
    4. Gantt chart

    (1 marks)

  2. Explain why prototyping is important before production.

    (2 marks)

Summary

  • Need → brief → research → criteria → ideation → options → prototype → plan → produce → evaluate.
  • Design is iterative.
  • Criteria are written early and used throughout.
  • Your SAT folio follows this process.

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