Hello there.

My name is Mrs. Dhami.

Thank you for joining me for your design and technology lesson today.

Now, the big question for today is, how can we communicate our ideas effectively? Now, this could be your design ideas, this could be your developed ideas.

This could be your final design.

It could be any part of your iterative journey, but how can we communicate what's inside your head effectively to other people? Now, we're going to explore a full range of different ideas, some you might like, others you might not, some you might feel more confident with, others you might not.

So let's explore a few, find which ones are right for your iterative journey.

Let's get cracking.

Our outcome for today is we will be able to select the appropriate communication technique when designing and developing.

Our keywords for today are communicate, iterative, design requirements and design decisions.

Now, we'll cover most of these as they appear throughout the slides, but let's just recap the word iterative.

We are on our iterative journey.

Now that is a journey of refining and improving.

That means that we're gonna constantly make things better so that we create the most successful design solution possible.

Our lesson follows two learning cycles today.

First of all, we're going to explore communicating design decisions, and then we're going to move on to communicating ideas.

So let's get cracking with exploring design decisions.

The big picture for our iterative journey today is we're going to explore and select a range of communication techniques.

We're gonna explore how to communicate feedback and design decisions as we produce our ideas.

Now, let's recap.

A communication technique is a method of expressing, sharing, or presenting ideas to others.

Designers need to be able to communicate designs with other designers, primary users, stakeholders, and manufacturers during their iterative journey.

So it's really important we find the right communication methods for ourselves and for our own iterative journey.

A design decision is a deliberate choice to meet a design requirement or solve a problem.

Design requirements, if you remember, were collated into your specification.

A design requirement is something which is needed or wanted to make a product successful.

Referring to or measuring against your design requirements ensures the correct design decisions are made.

Effective design decisions ensure your product or solution is successful.

What could a successful design decision look like? Jacob has a go.

He says, "I am going to make it fold up." Then Sofia has a go, she says, "Product A is too bulky and will be difficult to transport.

My design requirement states that it should be easy to carry around.

So if I make it fold up into the base, it will be compact." Why is Sofia's design decision more successful? It obviously is, but what is it about it that is more successful? Pause the video, have a think.

Come back to me when you've got an idea.

Well done if you managed to notice that it refers to the design requirement, it provides justification, and lastly, it provides direction for the iterative journey.

There are lots of different ways to communicate design decisions.

You don't just have to annotate.

So let's explore a few.

You could annotate, as we've already said.

You could produce some developed sketches to show how you're gonna take it forward.

You could do added prototypes to show those design decisions.

You could provide some analysis or measuring against your design requirements.

You could provide feedback from your primary user and stakeholders, because remember, at the end of the day, they are the people who are going to be using your product or have an interest in your product.

You may have your own ideas that work for your iterative journey.

You're not just limited to these, but we're gonna explore a few of these in a tiny bit more detail.

Have a look closely at the methods of communication that Jun has chosen to show his design decisions.

Pause the video, have a little look, come back to me when you've got an idea.

Well done for having a look.

So Jun chose to annotate some of his prototypes, so pictures of his prototypes, with comments referring to his design requirements.

He used his findings to make successful design decisions and recorded these through annotations and sketches as part of his iterative journey.

And hopefully you noticed both of those.

A lovely piece of work, Jun.

Aisha says, "Annotations can only describe the design idea or development." Is her statement true or false? Have a think, pause the video.

Come back to me when you've got an answer.

Well done if you got false.

And why is that? Successful annotations not only aid the understanding of the design, but also reference and measure against design requirements, including insights from primary users and stakeholders.

Effective design decisions can then be made.

Keep bringing it back to those really important design requirements.

Izzy chose a different communication method for her design decisions.

So Izzy chose to analyse some of her design ideas against her design requirements in her specification.

She used her findings to make successful design decisions, and recorded this as part of her iterative journey.

Well done, Izzy.

Lucas chose a different way to communicate his design decisions.

Pause the video and take a little look at what you think he did.

Come back to me when you've got an idea.

Well done if you identified that Lucas chose to ask his stakeholders what they thought of his design ideas.

They voted with counters, you see the little circles on his work? And provided written feedback, and you can see that in the little yellow strips of paper.

He used these to make successful design decisions, and recorded this as part of his iterative journey.

Lovely idea, Lucas.

You might have some of your own ideas too.

Laura chose to record her primary user feedback using audio and visual feedback.

So she sent some pictures of her ideas and got some text message replies, and she also did some video calls where she showed her ideas via video.

So Laura, how did you present this in your NEA? Laura says, "I took screenshots of text messages and embedded videos into my NEA." If you're thinking of doing this, it might be a good idea just to have a little chat to your teacher about how you can show this in your NEA.

Laura then used these to make successful design decisions and recorded this as part of her iterative journey.

Lovely idea, Laura.

Time for a quick check-in.

Successful design decisions, A, refer to or measure against the design requirements, B, can only be communicated through annotation, C, provide direction for the iterative journey, and D, provide justification.

Have a think, come back to me when you've got an answer.

Well done if you identified A, C and D.

Successful design decisions refer to/measure against the design requirements, provide direction for the iterative journey, and provide justification.

Onto task A.

Number one, I'd like you to define communication techniques.

Number two, define design requirements.

Three, define design decisions.

Four, list three ways a design decision can be successful.

Five, list three ways you can record design decisions.

Good luck to me.

Good luck to me? Good luck to you.

Come back to me when you have got some answers.

Answers could include, number one, a communication technique is a method of expressing, sharing or presenting ideas to others.

It's the same for design decisions too.

You need to communicate those, just like you communicate design ideas.

Number two, design requirements are something which are needed or wanted to make a product successful.

Three, a design decision is a deliberate choice to meet a design requirement or solve a problem.

Part four, successful design decisions refer to or measure against design requirements, provide justification, and most importantly, provide direction for the iterative journey.

It helps you to move your design forward to move onto a successful design solution.

Part five, ideas for communicating design decisions.

We've covered lots of these so far today.

You could have annotations, develop sketches, prototypes, perhaps prototypes with annotations and develop sketches too.

Analysis or measurement measuring against design requirements, and then feedback from primary user and stakeholders.

Feel free to go back through the slides and have a little look at the examples that we have shown today.

Well done with all of your hard work on task A.

Onto learning cycle two, communicate ideas.

We are going to explore a few techniques for communicating your ideas when designing and developing.

You are not limited to the techniques shared.

If we had loads of time, I would be sharing every single possible technique I could, but we do not, so we're only going to share a few.

Some will be right for your ideas and others will not, and that is okay.

When communicating, you may at any point identify a design decision, so please remember to record it before you forget it.

Remember, design decisions help you to make important choices to make your solution as successful as possible.

So you could highlight it, circle it, or write it in another colour, whatever works for you.

Let's get exploring.

There are loads and loads of different ways to sketch our ideas.

You might feel more confident with 2D, or you might feel more confident 3D.

You might like drawing or sketching freehand.

You might like isometric, or oblique, or orthographic, or perspective.

Whatever you feel confident with and whatever works for your design ideas will be right for your iterative journey.

There is a lovely example here actually done by Lucas, and you can see he's produced a full range of beautiful ideas with some 2D, some 3D.

And you'll notice here, he's tried to use slightly darker lines for some parts, a little bit of shading, and then he's chosen one colour just to highlight certain parts, so it's easy to understand.

Remember, record any design decisions as you communicate your ideas.

Alex says, "I cannot draw.

Whenever I draw, it looks like my 6-year-old sibling has drawn it.

I am going to do dreadfully for this part." Is Alex's statement true or false? Pause the video, come back to me when you've got an answer.

Well done if you identified false.

Of course, it's false.

Successful communication uses a range of techniques and is not just limited to sketching.

Use your strengths when choosing a communication technique that is right for you.

Let's explore some more.

Prototyping can be done in such a huge variety of ways.

You could use construction sets, breadboards, modelling clay, fabric toiles, building bricks, cardboard or scale timber/metal/polymer prototypes, or any other form of prototyping that you can think of.

Remember when you are prototyping to record any design decisions that you come across, otherwise you will forget them.

A great way to communicate your prototypes in your NEA is to take photographs of them and then annotate or sketch on top of them or around them, because this is a really good idea to explain them and to develop them, but also for you to be able to identify and record your design decisions.

CAD standing for computer-aided design is a great way to communicate ideas.

That could be perhaps development using electronic modelling programmes, or perhaps writing code, or it could be say 2D or 3D prototyping.

You can see at the bottom there is a model there that has been developed using CAD, and you can see the two changes if you look very closely, with the sloping of the back rest and the back rest added.

So CAD is a great idea for mathematical modelling and rapid development.

But as always, you've got it now, remember to record any design decisions.

And you might need to screenshot some of these to get them into your NEA.

Following on from CAD is of course CAM standing for computer-aided manufacture.

Now, you might be lucky enough to have in your school a laser cutter or 3D printer, a CNC router, some embroidery CNC machines.

They are great for producing rapid prototypes and showing off your ideas and showing off quite often your development too.

And there's a lovely example on the right again of a seating system being developed, and you can see as it progresses all the different design decisions that are there.

So please, as you know, remember to record any design decisions as you go through.

Artificial intelligence, often abbreviated to AI, is a great place to start for generating ideas.

So you could use word to image.

This is great for generating initial ideas as a starting point, and you can see some examples at the top of the page.

Next idea is sketch to image.

Now, if you have a little look at the sketches of the pizza cutters, they're actually what I did with a photograph.

So I took a photograph of some plasticine handles that I created.

I then sketched on top of those.

I then took a photo of the sketch on top of the photo, and put it into AI, and I asked it to render it and change them slightly.

And as you can see in the picture on the right, it has completely changed them, made them look really professional and rendered them.

This is a great place for you to develop some of your ideas.

However, you must make sure that you attribute the AI application.

So you must say where that image, where that idea or where that developed idea has come from, because obviously, it was not you doing that rendering.

But you are perfectly fine to use that as long as you attribute it.

And of course, you've got it, remember to record any design decisions along the way.

Exploded assembly drawings are a great idea for communicating how the internal parts look, how parts fit together, and for also checking tolerances.

So if you take a little look at the product on the bottom right, you can see there a part of the product that you cannot see on the left.

That's because the wooden handle needs a way of attaching to that cone part.

So what the student has done is they've added an internal handle part that they can screw into.

You would not be able to see that unless we had the exploded assembly drawing.

So this is a great chance to communicate some parts you might not otherwise see.

Remember, as you do this though, you might make some design decisions.

Please record them.

Schematic drawings are a great idea to show your circuits.

They provide a really clear, simplified representation.

It also allows you to perhaps explore some alternatives, and show it clearly, and communicate it clearly to a third party.

Remember, as you go through, record any design decisions.

You might decide on using different components within your circuit.

Working drawings are a great idea for showing technical information, such as dimensions, external and internal dimensions.

They provide a really clear, simplified representation for manufacturing, and they're really easy to do if you have already produced a CAD drawing.

Remember though, as you produce them, you never know, you might come across a design decision that you need to make, and that's fine because it is an iterative journey.

You can iterate, you can refine, you can improve at any point.

Time for a quick check-in.

Communication techniques are successful when, A, design decisions are identified, B, design requirements are considered, C, only sketching is used, D, a variety of techniques are used.

Pause the video, have a think.

Come back to me when you've got an answer.

Well done if you identified A, B, and D.

Communication techniques are successful when design decisions are identified, design requirements are considered, and a variety of techniques are used which are suitable for your iterative journey.

Onto task B.

Part one, I'd like you to identify suitable communication techniques for your ideas or developments.

Remember, you are not limited to the ones that I have just shared.

Please do though consider your ideas, your design brief.

Access to resources require does your school have some of the things that we have talked about? Think about your personal confidence and skill.

What will you feel happy doing? Try, if you can, to use more than one technique.

And lastly, think about the methods that we shared in the first learning cycle about how to communicate your design decisions as you communicate your ideas.

And then part two, create and effectively communicate your design ideas, developments, and design decisions throughout the iterative design process.

Good luck.

Part one, I asked you to identify suitable communication techniques for your ideas or developments.

So Andeep says, "I chose to use CAD as I love it and feel really confident.

I could produce mini 3D printed prototypes quickly to show to my primary user for feedback." Great idea, Andeep.

Sam says, "I like making prototypes with my hands.

So I chose to make paper, cardboard, and plasticine models.

This will gimme something physical to test or measure, and then I will take photos and draw my developments over the top to show my design decisions." Another great idea there, Sam.

Part two, it's time for you to communicate your ideas and developments.

Please remember, effective communication considers your ideas and your design brief, the access that you have to resources required.

You might not have some of the things we've talked about, and that's okay because there are alternative techniques.

Think about your personal confidence and skill.

What do you feel comfortable doing? What do you like doing? And what do you think looks good? Please try, if you can, to use more than one technique to clearly communicate your ideas.

And think, as we did in learning cycle one, what methods can you use to communicate your design decisions? Please feel free to go back to any of these slides at any point to give you a helping hand throughout your communication.

Well done, folks.

Keep going.

This brings us to the end of our lesson today.

Let's summarise what we have found out.

A communication technique is a method of expressing, sharing, or presenting ideas to others.

Communication techniques include sketching, CAD, CAM, and prototyping, also lots, lots more.

Designers need to be able to communicate designs with other designers, primary users, stakeholders, and manufacturers during their individual iterative journey.

Not only do designers need to be able to communicate their ideas, but also their design decisions.

So methods for communicating design decisions include: annotations, developed sketches, prototypes, analysis and measuring against design requirements, and feedback from primary user and stakeholders.

Well done with all of your hard work today, and enjoy and good luck for the rest of your iterative journey.

Take good care.

Bye bye bye.