Lesson video

Hello, and welcome to what is our third lesson in the Design and Technology 3D computer aided design unit of work My name's Mr. Wicken, and it's great to see you here again today.

In today's lesson we're going to look at how we identify who our intended user for the product we're designing is, and why it's so important that we know exactly what they're looking for in the product we are designing.

So let's have a look at what we're going to learn about in today's lesson.

So hopefully, before you've got to this point, you've completed the intro quiz.

If you haven't done so, can you make sure that you go back and finish that first? It's really important to today's learning, and it helps set you up for all the exciting things we're going to look at in today's lesson.

Then once you've done that, we're going to look into what a mind map is.

That's our first learning objective for today's lesson, and we're going to explore what that is, and actually have a go at creating one.

Then we're going to understand what a questionnaire is.

Again, we need to understand actually why we have a questionnaire and what benefits it can bring for us as designers to the design process.

Finally, we're going to look at what a target market is, and again, why it's so crucial to understand who your target market is for the intended product we're designing.

And of course, at the end, there's always the exit quiz just to finish off the learning that we've done and to make sure that you've understood all the different topics we've covered.

Now, along with this, it's really important that we have the equipment to be successful in today's lesson.

The first thing that I want to make sure that you've got is the exercise book or a piece of paper that we've used in previous lessons, to be able to write down all the great stuff we're going to learn in today's lesson.

Plus, you need a pen.

It doesn't matter what colour it is.

It can be blue, black, whatever, it's up to you, as long as it's working, and it's comfortable to use.

So make sure you've got that equipment now.

If necessary, pause the video here to make sure that you've got that.

Now, let's look at the key words for today's lesson.

So the first key word that we need to be aware of is the word mind map.

Now, mind map might be a completely new word to you, and that's why it's important that we can say it together, so I'm going to say it, and then you're going to repeat it.

So, mind map, mind map, mind map.

Excellent, great.

So what is a mind map? Well, it's a diagram which actually gives us, as designers, information, in a really visual and representative way.

Another word for mind map could be brainstorm or spider diagram.

There's lots of different ways of calling these things what they are, but actually, what we like to call them in design technology is mind maps And you have a central idea that around the outside of it there's lots of different words and ideas that link to that thing.

The second key word for today's lesson is questionnaire, so let's say that together.

Questionnaire, questionnaire, questionnaire.

Excellent, well done.

So a questionnaire is a series of written questions that you are going to ask to a specific group, usually linked to what you are designing, and why you're designing it for those people.

The third and final key word for today's lesson is target market.

So let's say that again.

Target market, target market, target market.

Now, we looked at a little bit of target market in previous lessons, but today, we're going to define it, and really explore what this is, and basically, in essence, target market is a specific group of people that you are designing your product for.

So if we think back to our last lesson, with the design brief, we wrote in our design brief who we're designing this product for, and that person that we're designing this product for is called our target market.

So those are the three key words that we're going to need to know for today's lesson.

Now, let's go on to our first learning topic.

So the first area of learning in today's lesson is what is a mind map.

So what actually is a mind map? Well, a mind map is a technique used by designers within the design industry as a way of generating and writing down lots of different words and ideas that are associated with a design problem in a short space of time.

By doing that, it allows the designer to clearly see what the problem is.

That mind map should then allow us, as designers, to be clear in understanding what the problem is, and how we can solve it through what we're going to design and manufacture.

So effectively, this is a very brief and very simple plan on a page to clearly help us better meet that design brief that we've originally set out with.

Now, when writing and designing a mind map itself, we need to think about a couple of the key areas to make sure that we're never going to be in the wrong when we're doing this.

The first thing is you can never have too much on the page.

Your mind map can be as big or as small as you want it to be, but by having lots of different points, and lots of different ideas, on that mind map it's only going to better enhance your understanding of what the design problem is, and how you can best meet it for your end client.

The other thing that you need to think about is, actually, you can never have too much depth or detail on that page.

By going into the detail on that mind map, it's going to allow you to clearly understand what the problem is, and only enhance the final design that you're going to come up with.

The next thing is, don't worry about repeating yourself.

There might be words on your mind map that you keep repeating and using over and over again, and that's fine, because that's only better justifying the reason for that being there.

By actually repeating yourself, you are clearly telling you, as the designer, that this is an important point, and we need to make sure that we are meeting it to meet that end design brief and client requirements.

And finally, as I've already spoken about, refer back to that design brief.

Keep looking at it, keep rereading it, making sure that you are, in your mind map, clearly laying out and noting down points that will help you meet that design brief.

Now, when doing the actual mind map itself, there is a nice little acronym that I want you to use: FLUMPS.

Now, it's a bit of a strange word.

Don't worry, because each one of those letters actually mean something, but it's just to better help understand what we need to be writing on the mind map.

The first one is function, so when doing it on the a mind map, you want to look into, actually, what is this product meant to do? That is crucial to your success.

If we don't understand what the product's going to do, then we're not going to meet that design brief, and our client won't use the product.

The next one is looks, so talk about the shape, the size, the colour, on your a mind map.

Write down key words to do with the colours, the shapes, the size, whatever it might be, that are associated with the look of your shelter itself.

The next one is the user.

We need to be thinking at all times about who the user is.

And again, on your mind map, write down who the users are.

I'm absolutely certain there'll be more than one person using this shelter, so we need to make sure that we're writing those down and clearly identifying them, so that we can best meet their needs and requirements.

Materials, really important.

If we don't understand what materials we're going to use, we're not going to be successful in the manufacturing part of the project.

This is crucial.

You need to write down what types of materials you would like to see.

It's also important, as I will show you in a little while, to not just write metals, or plastics.

You need to be specific about what types of metals, so things like aluminium, or steel, maybe gold, if you really want to use gold.

Quite expensive, though.

Have you got a lot of money ? I know I haven't.

The last one here is to do with pros and cons.

So pros and cons are to talking about actually, you personally, what are your pros and cons with this product itself? because this is really crucial.

If you don't think about how this can best meet and not meet the needs of the end user, then you could effectively not have a product that's fit for purpose.

And the very last point, after all those different areas that we've just spoken about, is something that is an overarching and really important thing to discuss, and that's sustainability.

So this might not necessarily be directly impacting the end user, but actually, it's something that we, as a designer, need to consider, so that when we are designing and making something, we're not only using materials that are better for the environment, we're also doing it in a way that is more sustainable, that doesn't damage the environment around us, it doesn't affect the function, it doesn't impede on the users' use of that end product, so that the product itself can have a long life that doesn't damage the world around it.

So let's now go and have a look at how we actually do a mind map in our exercise books.

So here on my piece of paper, I've already started to lay out my mind map, and I'll just tell you what you need to do to get to this point.

So in the middle, I've put the word shelter, because that, obviously, is what we are being tasked with designing and making.

So I've put that in the centre, clearly, so that I know that is what we are designing and manufacturing.

Then, round the outside, what I have done is, I've put the FLUMPS.

I have put the different words that are associated with that.

So function is going to be the first area we're going to look into.

So what I'm going to have, then, off of that, is another line, and I need to talk about what the function is of the shelter.

So what actually is the function of our shelter? That's right, it's to provide cover.

Now, yours might be to provide cover for something different to mine, but I am going to be providing cover to people to sit under at primary school, so I will put, to provide cover at school.

So I could, if I wanted to, go into further detail, and talk about actually who is going to be doing that, and why, but actually, if you look, as we go round, those questions will be answered in these different areas.

But again, what that will mean, is that I'm just repeating myself, as I said earlier, which means that it's an important thing to remember.

So I could put here about it being for primary school children, and then again reiterate the point down here with users, because it's just allowing me to better understand the client.

If I talk about looks, I might want to put just some words associated with it.

So I'm going to say, simple, I want a simple design.

I might also then put clean, so that it's a nice, clean, elegant design.

I might also put modern, as well, because I don't want it to look old-fashioned, I want it to be quite up-to-date, and looking as modern and as cool as I possibly can.

I could then go into further detail from this as to what I mean by these different words.

User, as I've spoken about already, we can say it's for primary children, absolutely, but I'm also going to put something else in there.

I'm also going to put in teachers, because the teachers themselves might want to sit under it as well, with the children, or if the children aren't there, they might want to go outside and sit and enjoy the nice weather, or if it's snowing outside, the cold weather, it's up to them.

We've got materials, and again, I can go into the detail about the materials, and so on, and so forth.

And as you can see, what I'm doing is, I'm starting to build up a really clear picture, very quickly, on my mind map, of the different areas on the FLUMPS that are going to help me better meet that design brief.

So here's an example of my completed mind map.

Again, it's following the same structure as I've just shown to you, and it's got those different points coming off of the areas to give me the detail and understanding of what I need to do to best meet that design brief.

Remember, you cannot have too much detail on a mind map.

The more you've got, the better.

Mine's quite basic and simple here.

I would hope that you would have further points to better explain.

So you're going to pause the video here now, and you're going to go and create your mind map for your shelter itself.

Make sure that you're following the rules that we've discussed.

Refer back to my example if you need to, but make sure, as well, that you're using FLUMPS to help with the structure of your mind map.

So good luck, see you soon.

Welcome back, and I hope you got on well, creating your mind map for this project.

Now, let's move on to our second area of learning in today's lesson, and that is, what is a questionnaire? Now, a questionnaire is something that is really important to help us better get an idea of what our client wants from a particular product.

A good way of understanding what that is is by creating those things called questionnaires.

I'm absolutely certain you have created or answered questionnaires in your time, but today, what we're going to do is actually look into how we build up a questionnaire, and then also get it answered.

So when designing a questionnaire itself, it's important to understand there are two different types of questions that you can ask somebody to get a response, an open question, or a closed question.

It's really important we understand the difference between the two.

So first, let's look into an open question.

So an open question is a statement which requires a response.

So the example I've got there is, Explain how you feel about this.

That requires somebody to give you the detail and the explanation as to what they believe is the answer to that question.

So you will get quite large responses to a question in that form, when it is an open question.

The opposite to an open question is a closed question, and what a closed question is is, basically, that you have a limited set of responses.

So the example I've given you there is, Are you angry about this? And then it's just an answer of either yes, or no, so a person could only respond answering either yes or no, so it's far, far, far more limiting than what an open-ended question is, but can still provide really useful data to you, as a designer, to help with your designs.

When writing a questionnaire, it's important to incorporate both open- and close-ended questions, so that you've got much more detail on those open-ended questions, but quite quick and easy to understand responses to those close-ended questions.

Now, I've got a question for you to answer.

So, a true or false style question is an example of an open question.

Is that true, or is that false? Correct, it's false.

Actually, a true or false style question isn't open at all, it's closed.

By asking a question in that style, somebody only has two responses they can give, either true or false, so that instantly means it has to be a closed-ended question.

So let's think about some questions that you could possibly use for your questionnaire that you're going to ask to different people in a little while.

So open questions could be written in this style for what you need to find out.

And the first one is, What features would you like to see in the design? That's a great question, because what that allows somebody to do is give you a good amount of detail as to what they'd like to see from the shelter.

Another question is, How could the design be improved? So you could show them some ideas, and then ask them to give you further explanation as to what could be done to make them even better.

And the last question is, Does the design meet the needs of the intended user, and why? So you're not only just asking them yes or no, but you're then asking them to give the detail and explanation to better understand it, so they will then go into the detail required to say why they think it meets it, or why it doesn't meet it, and that's going to be really helpful to you as a designer.

So examples of some closed-ended questions are, maybe, How old are you? And then giving a a set of ages that they could select from.

What's your favourite colour? And then again, listing some key colours below that they can then choose from.

And obviously, the most important question there is, Is design and technology your favourite subject, yes or no? Well, of course, we all know what the answer is there.

It's definitely yes, of course it is.

That's why you're here today doing this lesson.

So these are some examples of questions that are either open or closed that you could possibly use with your questionnaire, or just to give you an understanding, a better idea, of how you could write and word the questions when you come to ask yours.

So you're going to pause the video here now, and what I want you to do is write out a questionnaire to find out from people a good deal of information about what they want from your shelter design.

Make sure that when you're writing your questionnaire, you've got both open- and closed-ended questions, so that that way, you have got a good range of data that you're collecting.

You need to make sure you've got around six questions, so you could have three of one style and three of another, it's entirely up to you, but I would say around six questions is a good number to ask.

If you've got more, even better, but try not to have too many less than six.

So pause the video, go get writing your questions.

Good luck.

Welcome back, and I hope that you got on well writing your questions for the questionnaire itself, and that you used a blend of both open- and closed-ended-style questions.

Just put that to one side for the time being.

We're going to come back to it in a moment, because what we're going to do now is we're going to look at what is a target market.

It's really important that we actually understand what a target market is, because when we are going through this whole design process and we are asking questions for the research and design, we need to understand who those people are.

So now you've written that questionnaire, it's important that we find the target market that we are aiming our shelter at, and actually get them to respond to it.

A product's target market is a particular group of people who will actually look to use that product or service when it's actually manufactured.

Without having a target market, we don't know fully who we are aiming a product at, so it's really vitally important that when we ever are designing something, we know who our target audience is, so that when we're designing, we can meet their needs.

So I've got two different products here, and actually, I want us to think about some key questions with them.

So we've got a football, and we've got a walking stick.

So who would be the target market for these different products? But before we answer that, let's actually ask ourselves some further questions to better gauge and understand who that audience could be.

Let's think about age.

What kind of age group would use a football more commonly, and what kind of age group would use a walking stick? Right, so the walking stick would probably be used by somebody maybe slightly older in years, and actually, the people that use the football might be slightly younger in years.

That doesn't mean that only young people and old people would use these products.

Other people may do, but when designing it, you want to just focus specifically on a type of age group, just so that you are ensuring you're meeting their requirements.

The next one is gender.

Actually, who is going to be using this? Is it going to be boys, or girls, or both? So with these two products, you're right.

Probably, actually, with these two products, they are both going to be used by the two different genders, which is great, because then when you're designing it, you are designing for a really open, wide target audience.

Lifestyle.

Actually, what do these people do with their lifestyle? Are they active? Are they maybe less so? Do they go out often? Do they stay in? What do you think? Who would the target audience for these two products be with their lifestyle? Right, that's interesting, So you can see that there are different lifestyles for the two different types of target audience for these different products.

And lastly, what about interests? What interests might those people have who would buy a football or a walking stick? What do you think? That's really interesting.

Okay, so they do have interests that maybe cross over, that are slightly similar, but in other areas would be different.

So you can see that by understanding who the target audience is for these different products, you can better gauge what they might be wanting from a final product and its design.

So what you're going to do now is you're going to pause the video, and I want you to take that questionnaire that you've written, and I want you to find somebody who would be in your target market.

So who is the people that would use that actual shelter? You need to then get those people to answer the questions that you have written in your questionnaire.

Try and get as many different people to answer the questionnaire as you can.

That way, then, you can really get a clear understanding as to what these people are wanting from that final shelter design, and then it's going to help you with your designs when we come onto them at a later point in this unit of work.

So pause the video here now, go and get your target audience, and then get them to answer your questions.

Good luck.

Welcome back.

I hope asking that questionnaire to your intended target market has really helped you gain a great insight into what you need to make sure you're designing and making for your shelter.

And that's it for today's lesson.

Hopefully, you've really enjoyed all the different areas we've looked into.

We've understood what a mind map is, and actually how we create one.

We've then gone and looked at actually what a questionnaire is, and how we put together both open- and close-ended questions.

And finally, you've then identified your target market, and gone and asked those questions to them to get the information.

As always, I'd love to see the work that you've been doing, and if you can get permission from your parents or carers, I'd love you to share your work online using the hashtag #LearnwithOak.

Thanks for coming to our lesson today.

I look forward to seeing you in the next one.

Take care, bye-bye.