Lesson video

Hello there, my name is Mrs. Dami.

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

Now, the big question today is you have some absolutely wonderful design ideas, but how on earth do you choose which one to take forward? We're going to explore this together today.

Hard hats on.

Let's get cracking.

Our outcome for today is we will be able to evaluate design ideas against design requirements and justify our choices.

We have a few ground rules for our lesson today.

First of all, we need to listen to others.

"It's okay to disagree with each other, but we should listen properly before making assumptions or deciding how to respond.

When disagreeing, challenge the statement not the person." "We need to respect each other's privacy.

We can discuss examples, but do not use names or descriptions that identify anyone, including ourselves." "No judgment, we can explore beliefs and misunderstandings about a topic without fear of being judged." And lastly, we can choose a level of participation.

"Everyone has the right to choose not to answer a question or join a discussion.

We never put anyone on the spot." We have five keywords today.

Design decision, which is a deliberate choice to meet a requirement or solve a problem.

Design requirements, which is something which is needed or wanted to make a product successful.

Justification, which is why something is done or believed to be right.

Iterative, which means refining and improving.

And then lastly, evaluation, checking how good something is and how to make it better.

We have two learning cycles today, evaluating design ideas and then moving on to justifying design decisions.

Let's get started with evaluating design ideas.

Design ideas can be evaluated to make informed design decisions, enabling iterative development into successful products, solutions, environments, or services.

Let's remind ourselves the theme of this unit is inclusive design, focusing on mental health and wellbeing.

Now, evaluating design ideas throughout this unit will naturally have a focus on strengths and limitations for inclusivity.

Does it work for diverse users? Feasibility, is it to make? And lastly, impact, will it meaningfully improve wellbeing? These are some questions to keep at the back of your mind as we work through today's lesson.

Feedback from primary users and stakeholders provides evidence and justification for effective evaluation.

Let's remind ourselves what a stakeholder is.

Stakeholders are a person, group, or organization with an interest in the project.

Now for this unit, some really good stakeholders would be teachers or perhaps educational psychologists.

Izzy chose to ask her stakeholders what they thought about her design ideas.

So she gave them some counters and she asked them to vote using the counters, and then provide feedback on little green slips of paper, which she can see in the picture there.

Izzy said, "I asked my stakeholders to vote for their favorite wellbeing idea.

80% of them favored the Pomodoro timer." Laura chose to record her primary user feedback using audio and visual methods.

Laura says, "I took screenshots of text messages and embedded videos into my portfolio." Great idea, Laura.

And what did you find out? She said, "My primary user found the design for the app really difficult to navigate.

She felt the flashing images distracted her, but she loved the style of font." Some really important feedback, ready to develop and choose ideas.

Methods for recording or communicating evaluation include: annotations, develop sketches or prototypes.

And also analysis, measuring against design requirements.

Let's remind ourselves what design requirements are.

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

Jun chose to annotate his prototypes with comments referring to his design requirements.

And we're zooming into one of his prototypes there.

He says, "Strengths is that it has adjustable height, enabling use by multiple people, allowing all to feel included," and that links beautifully into inclusivity.

"The limitations though, adjusting the height requires several steps." Perhaps he'd want to reduce the amount of steps and make it easier to use.

Aisha says, "Annotations can only describe the design idea or development." Is her statement true or is it false? And whatever you decide, try and give a reason for it.

Have a think, come back to me when you've made your decision.

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 or stakeholders.

Lucas chose to evaluate some of his design ideas against his design requirements.

And you can see here he's chosen three of his designs and pop them into a chart against the design requirements.

Lucas says, "It will be more feasible to manufacture design B in a school workshop." So you can see Lucas is carefully considering feasibility in his design requirements.

Gaining feedback and evaluating ideas can help to make informed choices when selecting a design to take forward.

Features from several design ideas may be selected to combine.

You might find all sorts of bits of different ones that you like and you think, "Oh, I could put those together to create a fantastic idea." And that's the benefit from creating a whole load of design ideas.

Andeep says, "The most aesthetically pleasing design is always the best." Is Andeep's statement true or false? Have a think, come back to me when you've made your decision.

Well done if you got false.

And why is that? Strong design choices balance creativity with inclusivity, feasibility and impact.

Aesthetics alone are not enough.

So please don't base all of your decisions only on aesthetics.

Task A, part one, define design requirements.

Part two, identify two methods to gain feedback on a design.

Part three, identify two methods to communicate evaluations.

Part four, use one method to provide feedback and one method to evaluate your own design ideas, considering strengths and weaknesses.

And lastly, based on your evaluation, select the most suitable design or designs.

Good luck, I can't wait to see what you produce.

Come back to me when you've had a really good go at all five.

Answers could include: Part one, design requirements are something which is needed or wanted to make a product successful.

Part two, methods for gaining feedback include stakeholders voting or providing comments at primary user interviews.

Part three, methods for communicating evaluations include: annotations, develop sketches, prototypes, and analysis, and measuring against design requirements.

Part four, use one method to provide feedback and one method to evaluate your own design ideas considering strengths and weaknesses.

Izzy gave her stakeholders, teachers and educational psychologists, purple counters and ask them to vote on the most successful designs for improving wellbeing and provide comments.

Izzy was surprised that the timer idea was the most popular, closely followed by the positive affirmations light.

Part four continued.

Izzy also evaluated the three highest scoring designs against her design requirements.

Strengths, the timer idea came out the most successful due to reducing procrastination.

Limitations, there are two many buttons which may potentially confuse users.

Part five, based on your evaluation, select the most suitable design or designs.

So Izzy says, "I have selected the timer and positive affirmations design ideas." And perhaps she might start thinking about combining some of those wonderful features together.

Onto learning cycle two, justifying design decisions.

Once design ideas have been evaluated, successful design decisions can be made.

A design decision, let's remind ourselves, is a deliberate choice to meet a design requirement or solve a problem.

Effective design decisions ensure your product or solution is successful.

What could a successful design decision look like? Jacob says, "I am going to make it fold up." Sofia says, "Product A is too bulky and will be difficult to transport.

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

So if I make it fold up into the base, it will be compact." Who do you think has made a more successful design decision, Jacob or Sofia, and why for your choice? Have a think.

Make your decision, pause the video and come back to me when you have got a good idea.

Well done if you said that Sofia's design decision is more successful.

So why is Sofia's design decision more successful? Well, it refers to the design requirement.

It provides justification and it provides direction for solving your design brief.

Let's remind ourselves what we already know from this unit.

We have Alex.

Alex is a 16-year-old secondary school student.

He's currently preparing for GCSE exams. He lives at home with family and spends most evenings revising.

Sounds like quite a few people I know.

Izzy created a design brief for Alex.

She says, "Design an innovative solution to enable teenagers to calmly approach exam revision at school or home so that they do not feel overwhelmed and not able to focus on the revision productively." From Izzy's evaluation, she selected two ideas that she could take forward.

Let's remind ourselves about them.

We have the timer, which has the storage to have the stationary and randomized prizes as little rewards, and it has little timer buttons around the bottom where you can select a different time depending on how much time you want to give yourself.

The second idea that Izzy selected is the positive affirmations jar.

So inside our little rolled up bits of paper that contain positive steps to unwind and ideas for Alex to switch off, such as go for a short walk.

Now the lid to the jar has a color changing light so that you can make the whole entire jar into a relaxing mood light.

Two fabulous ideas there that Izzy has selected.

Let's take a closer look at Izzy's design idea for the timer.

So strengths: it provides a timer to stop procrastination when revising, giving a set focused time limit.

Limitations are there are too many buttons, which may confuse the user.

Now, Izzy did some nice design research and she looked into different techniques.

One of the techniques she looked into was the Pomodoro technique.

It's a revision technique that suggests repeating small 25 minute chunks with a five minute break in between, and then a 30 minute break after four Pomodoros.

And this is used for effective revision.

So Izzy made some design decisions, reduce the number of buttons to three, a five minute, 25 minute, and 30 minute timers to enable the researched Pomodoro technique to be used effectively.

This simplifies the design and meets the design requirement of being intuitive to use.

Time for a quick check-in, successful design decisions, are they A, refer to/measure against the design requirements, B, can only be communicated through annotation, C, provide direction for the design brief, or D, provide justification? Have a think, perhaps tell the person next to you or myself and come back to me when you've got a decision.

Well done if you identified A, C and D, successful design decisions refer to or measure against the design requirements.

They provide direction for the design brief, and they also provide justification.

Just like Izzy did with her design decision.

Let's take a little look at Izzy's positive affirmations design ideas.

So the strength, the primary user loved the light to provide light in her dim room.

Limitations, the light would not be bright enough to see the revision.

And although the affirmations were seen as a wonderful idea, they did not help focus on the revision.

So Izzy made a design decision.

She said, "Use a bright light that can be directed at the revision because of the primary user's dim room.

However, remove positive affirmations to focus on the revision itself." Izzy then made a design decision to combine the positive features from both of her selected designs to iteratively develop a product that would successfully meet her design requirements.

So it is going to include a Pomodoro timer to reduce procrastination and focus Alex's time.

And then a light for his dim room.

True or false? You can only make design decisions based on one design idea.

Have a think, come back to me when you've made a decision.

Well done if you got false.

And why is that? Combining positive features from more than one design idea enables several successful design decisions to be made.

If you are struggling with a stressor or barrier, you should speak to any of the following, a trusted adult, a teacher, your school SENDCO or a DSL, a designated safeguarding lead.

Please don't keep it to yourself.

Onto task B, part one, define design decision.

Part two, which three things make a successful design decision? And lastly, from your idea selection in task A, justify two design decisions for iterative development.

Good luck, pause the video and come back to me when you've had a good go.

Part one answers could include: A design decision is a deliberate choice to meet a design requirement or solve a problem.

Part two, which three things make a successful design decision? Referring to design requirements, justification, and providing direction for solving your design brief.

Part three answers could include, so from your idea selection in task A, justify two design decisions.

So you could have said, I will add slots for a pencil, pen, and highlighter as the primary user loved the idea of having the three main stationary items required for revision close by.

Or you might have had something along the lines of, I will use natural timbers as they provide a link to relaxing nature.

And do not use bold, distracting colors.

This will help to create a calm and focused environment for revision.

This brings us to the end of our lesson today.

Let's summarize what we have found out.

A range of design ideas require feedback from primary users and stakeholders, and they require evaluation to make successful decisions for design selection.

Methods for communicating evaluation include: annotations, developed sketches and prototypes, analysis, and measuring against design requirements.

Evaluation enables justify design decisions for iterative development.

And design decisions can combine positive ideas from a range of ideas.

Well done with all of your hard work today.

I hope you have enjoyed the lesson, and I hope to see you in another one soon.

Take good care, bye, bye, bye.