98 Sag Design Briefs and Specifications The process of designing and making something ie called the design process (gosh). | Designing Starts with the Design Brief | So, someone gets an idea for a new product. They devide to employ a designer to work on the idea. 1) The person who hires the designer is called the client. Peeianisae epocity for trip storage. 2) The client gives the designer a design brief... ———$———>- ‘We want you to design a product (=> 8) The design brief i a starting point for the development so hee ee es of the product. Ht should inolude: emp soage rere (upto tare) * what Kind of product is needed or wanted (and why) * how the product will be used * who the product i for (the target market @ 4) The designer needs to pick out all the important features of the design brief. \ 5) One way of doing this is by drawing a —_= wih spider diagram. H's a quick way to help =a thalyeo the problm and to help the SUM irnnudieninee designer decide what thoy need to researc, erie a tans ge yee ee rts of clint = Es sed on your wars needs and interes to, = TATU r tr sidiitite oer un ce Research Helps the Designer Get Ideas | The point of doing research is to: 1) check that people will actually want the product. 2) find out what people in the target market like or dislice about similar existing products. 8) find out what mat: , Standard components and techniques would be suitable for the product, and how they will affect the manufacturing and selling costs. There are different tupes of resear Market Re a Questionnaires or interviews can be used fo find out people's likes/dislikes and so on. This helps the designer understand what the target group wante from a product. = There loads more on carrying out research 3, 0n pages 100-103. = innit Designers can examine a current product or disassemble it (take it apart) to: * figure out how it's made (e.g, materials, components and processes) and how it work. + check for good and bad features, including how ergonomic the design is (see page 102). * collect data on factors that could affect the product's performance, e.g. ite size, weight eto. Several products can then be compared at once using fables or by plotting the data on graphs. * test how it feele, looks, smells or fastes (sensory analysis). Then they should have a good idea of what materiale and fechniques they need fo research for the product. I’ve designed your briefs, now on to the socks... Designers don’t just go straight from the design brief to sketching ideas, They first need to check out other similar products already on sale and get some information about the target market for the new product. First things first. Section Eight — Designing and Making99 , Design Briefs and Specifications here's loads more on how to actually carry out research on the next few pages. Sut before we get onto that, let's take a look at what designers do with their research findings... _Research is Used to Draw Conclusions Once they've done some market research and product analysis, They use the information fo help with their design. They should: 1) Gummunise what they've found out — pick out the mos! imporian{ and useful findings E.g. carrots are just as popular as turnips. might involve interpreting deta and graphe. 2) Explain what impact each finding will have on their design. E.g, the design should be able #0 hold carrots as well as turnips. designers should have loads of information. The Findings Might Mean the Design Brief is Reconsidered | 1) Onoe conclusions have been drawn from the research, the designer might want to look agin at the design brief with the client — remember, the design brief is just the starfing point. 12) For example, the research might show that most people want the turnip holder/baoksoratcher to be collapsible for easy transportation or store a minimum of & fumips. As a result, the designer may have to consider elfering the design brief, with any decisions made being dicouased with the client. The Design Specification is a List of Condi 1) Once the design brief is agreed, a design specification can be made. 2) ‘The design specification gives certain conditions that the product must meet. These conditions (often called design criteria) should ons to Meet | ———_—_§—— Taly chart shoving the minimum length etbadacatche tat people rected | scratch the idl of thee back, take account of the research findings. —— Length (mm) No. of people | 8) W's best fo write a specification ae bullet points. Each point should a i. | be explained and show how the research helped the designer to deoide | 250k | on that point. The specification should cover the following things 300 Sie yee | Peamal ae ee | 2 * Aasthees — how it oks * Material — what made oF oe « Coumer — who wi by it + Say) — how to make sure i ae i Greeatorata 2 eset | uuiemataatnm eS "Glatt eed sh» Stay — ts tre np See page 103 for more on why ‘environmental issues need to be arsed in our dign speceation HATCH pS size Ithould weigh 300 9 or less, as mast people were comfortable with ths, “The minimum length wil be 40 mm, as that was long enough for everyone i reach the middle oftheir back ‘AESTHETICS Teshould be multicoloured because mest people said they would like the product to be very colourful “The handle should be easy to grip but not feel rough, because some people were a rough surface might catch on their clothes. Design specs — not a type of fancy glasses... QI Whatis the name given to a person who hires a designer? [1 mark] 2. What information should a design brief include? [3 marks] Q3 Give one example of a type of market research. [1 mark] Q4 List two things you can find out about a product during product analysis. [2 marks] Q5 What is a design specification? [1 mark] Section Eight — Designing and Making92 Design Briefs and Specifications 1 Write a design brief for a product that might help in each of the following situations. a) A plumber has a large number of tools. He spends a lot of time having to sort through them to find the right one. [1 mark] b) Young children can get bored whilst travelling on a long journey. (mark) 2 Acompany has completed some market research for a new CD rack — the results of part of their findings are shown in Figure 1. The company has then written a design specification (shown in Figure 2) for a designer to refer to when designing the CD rack. Results of market research: QI Average number of CDs that people own = 35, Q2__ Favourite colour: Silver 42%, blue 19%, red 22%, pink 7%, other 10% Figure 1 * It must have enough storage. © It must be a nice colour. Figure 2 a) Explain why these specification points wouldn’t help the designer. U1 mark] b) Suggest a rewording for the two specification points in Figure 2 so that they are more helpful. You should include an explanation as to how each point has been decided upon. Point 1: (2 marks} Point 2: [2 marks] Section Eight — Designing and Making93 3 Apetaccessories company are designing a new product. The design brief is shown in Figure 3. Design a high quality cage for pet mice to live outside in all year round, “There are currently very few commercially available products that do this “The cage will be sold to owners that want to keep their mice outdoors. Figure 3 The company are thinking about carrying out some research for their product. a) i) Give two reasons why the company would want to carry out research. 1 2. [2 marks] The company decide to carry out some market research. Name one other type of research that could be carried out by the company, and describe what it would involve. 12 marks] b) Figures 4 and 5 show the findings from the market research. Graph to w mal h 87% of people who have mice as pets say they ‘animal a pet shop sold each year keep their mice indoors. © 18% of all owners say they would keep theit Hamsters mice indoors all the time if they had a choice. + Ofthe people who keep their mice outside, 98% say they only keep the cage outside during the summer, as this is the only time when it is a comfortable temperature for the mice. Guinea pigs | » Experts say the cage needs to be well-ventilated, so a wire mesh is best for cage walls. Well-ventilated cages are very difficult g g ¢ 2 2 to heat though. so URDU Figure 4 Figure 5 State two conclusions that can be drawn from Figure 4. (2 marks] ii) The conclusions of the market research have led the company to reconsider the design brief. Suggest one change that should be made to the design brief. Give a reason for your answer. [2 marks} Score: | |/14 eH oO Section Eight — Designing and Making