Lesson video

Hello, welcome to your design and technology lesson.

My name is Mrs. Conway and I will be guiding you through your learning today.

So today's outcome is I can model design ideas for a piece of student furniture using card, foam and other materials.

So we're going to be looking at modelling today as part of our design process.

So our keywords are: sketching, function and modelling.

And we'll go through each one of these as we work through the lesson.

The first thing we're going to look at then is sketching to communicate design ideas.

Now, sketching is often the first way in which a designer starts their creative process.

Sketching is quick freehand drawing of design ideas or concepts, and often done as kind of like a rough outline of an idea.

And here you can see an example of sketches.

Sketching has lots of benefits as part of the creative process.

So the benefits of sketching: it allows for quick idea exploration and visualisation.

It also encourages creativity without the designer being limited.

It helps to communicate and share ideas with the design team or clients, and it also avoids money being spent on prototypes before working the idea out.

Let's just do a quick check for understanding on that then.

How is sketching cost effective? A: it requires expensive software and tools.

B: it increases the time needed for final design decisions, or C: it avoids money being spent on prototypes.

Pause the video here.

Just take a moment to think about your answer.

The correct answer was C.

It avoids money being spent on prototypes before that idea is worked out.

Now a page of initial sketches acts as a visual exploration of the design brief.

And sketching works best when it's quick with more focus on the ideas themselves rather than the quality or detail of the drawings.

We can sometimes get bogged down in making a beautiful page or beautiful sketches or the best sketches ever, but actually it's much more important to focus on the idea itself and just use the page to explore all of those different ideas and be quite free with it.

Sometimes when sketching, you might be inspired by a stimulus or you might be inspired by the function of the product and you might have some ideas based on that function of the product.

The function of the product is the purpose of the product.

Now, Andeep had this design brief: "Design a storage solution for arts and crafts supplies that is compact and transportable.

The product needs to help save space.

The solution must appeal to university-aged students and be able to be manufactured at affordable price for students." Now just take a moment to think, what is the function of the product that Andeep is designing? Just pause the video here, take a moment to think about that question.

So his function is storage for arts and craft supplies, also to be compact and transportable.

And lastly, it also needs to save space.

Those are all the functions within that design brief that Andeep has written.

So here's an example of a page of initial design ideas based on that design brief.

And Andeep has looked at the intended functions of the product to help generate these initial design sketches.

So he's not used a stimulus or anything like that here.

He's really just focused on the functional aspect of it.

So he's focused on making sure there are storage for arts and craft supplies, as well as being compact and transportable and as well as making sure that it's saving space in some way.

Let's just really have an understanding then of function.

So which of these could be functions of a TV stand or unit? A: to cost under 100 pounds, B: to store TV controllers, C: to hold the TV, or D to be made out of timber only.

Pause the video here just to take a moment to think about your answer.

And the correct answer, it was B and C.

So to store TV controllers and to hold the TV are two functions of a TV stand or unit.

Now to generate initial design sketches, the following success criteria can be used to help guide you.

So for initial design sketches, you want a range of varied ideas.

You also want the sketches to be quite quick.

You don't wanna be spending too much time on making them look perfect.

Annotation and arrows can also help just to explain the ideas.

And you can see this in this example here, there's annotation around the sketches, but also arrows have been used to show the direction that things might actually work in the product.

So the arrows in there, used to show how the drawer pulls out and how the door opens.

Also, ideas are explored without a concern for a bad idea.

Now when I say bad idea, there isn't really any such thing as a bad idea.

At this stage, you are just throwing ideas out there.

So don't be worried if you look at your initial design sketches and then think, "Oh, that idea's not very good." Don't rub it out, leave it on there.

You can always explain why you decided not to go with that idea and actually, that bad idea might then actually inspire another idea from there.

Now, Andeep has used both 2D and 3D sketching techniques when drawing out his initial design ideas.

This is another thing you can do.

You're sketching quickly and you're trying to explore and sometimes it might be clearer to show the idea in 2D than it is in 3D, or you might be thinking, "I'm not quite sure how to draw it in 3D yet, so I'm just gonna sketch the idea and get it down in 2D, and then I might be able to then work out the 3D version of it." Doing this technique, it's just really helpful to quickly show ideas and thinking without getting too bogged down in it looking really perfect.

Andeep's sketches have also considered the functions that he listed.

If I can just remind you of those functions: it was that they are transportable, and you can see here he's got and put wheels on one of his ideas.

And also one of the others was the storage.

And you can see again, he's used a 2D drawing of the top of that storage unit to show that there's different storage spaces for different items. Okay, it's gonna be over to you now to carry out your first task.

I'd like you to sketch an A4 page of different design ideas for your design brief, thinking about primarily the function of your product.

And use the success criteria to help you generate your sketches and in the successful page of initial design sketches.

Just to remind you what that success criteria is, you want a range of varied ideas.

You want them to be quick sketches.

You want to include things like annotation or arrows to help explain the ideas, and also that the ideas are explored without a concern for a bad idea, 'cause there really isn't a bad idea at this stage.

Okay, pause the video here to have a go at this task and good luck.

Okay, how did you get on? Sometimes it's pretty tricky starting initial design ideas, but some of you might have actually just already had loads of ideas and the ideas kind of just flew out of you onto the page.

Either way, hopefully you've got a page of initial design sketches now.

Now these are some that you can compare yours to.

However, it's more important to actually compare yours to the success criteria that we went through.

So while you are looking at your sketches, just have a look at that success criteria again, and always give yourself like a tick or a cross of whether or not you met those.

So have you got a range of varied ideas? Were they quick sketches? Remembering you can use 2D and 3D.

Have you got annotation and arrows to help explain the ideas? Those notes are for yourself, but also anyone else looking at your ideas.

And the ideas, are they explored without any concern for what's a bad or a good idea? Hopefully you didn't use a rubber too much or rub at any ideas that you thought weren't very good.

Right, next we're going to look at modelling to communicate design ideas.

So we've looked at sketching, but how can modelling help us and what is modelling? So design ideas can also be modelled and modelling is the process of creating physical or digital representations of design ideas to visualise and test them.

Using modelling to communicate design ideas has some benefits over sketching.

So the benefits of modelling are: it really helps to understand things like scale, proportion and also form in 3D, which can be really difficult to do when just sketching alone.

It also encourages you to think about possible manufacturing and materials as well as the practical limitations of that idea.

It's also easier for clients or team members to understand as well.

And it can help you to understand things such as ergonomics or user interaction that little bit better.

Okay, let's just do a quick check for understanding on that then.

What can 3D modelling show you about your design that's harder to understand from a sketch? A: scale, B: colour, C: proportion, or D: cost.

Pause the video here just to take a moment to think about your answer.

And the correct answer was A and C.

So 3D modelling can help to show things such as scale and proportion, which is much harder to understand from just sketching alone.

Now you can model in a variety of materials, such as: paper, corrugated card, MDF, felt, coloured card, white foam board, but there's also a lot more as well.

Modelling materials should be things that are easy to use, quick to be able to cut or shape in any particular way.

You don't want something that's too fiddly or too challenging to actually shape.

You can also model using a variety of joining methods as well.

So things such as split pins, masking tape, thread, glue gun, glue sticks, these are all great things.

Again, you want things that are really, really just quick to do.

Things such as PVA glue could sometimes not be so helpful for modelling.

It takes a long time to dry and you want your modelling process to be relatively quick paced.

You can also model with a variety of tools as well.

So again, things such craft knife, tenon saw, cutting mat, needle, safety rule, and scissors.

Again, there's a lot more options available to you.

These are just some examples.

Let's just do a quick check for understanding on that then.

Which of the below shows an example of a tool that could be used when modelling? Pause the video here, just take a moment to think about your answer.

The correct answer was A, that craft knife is a tool that could be used when modelling.

So modelling does not need to be a product with a high quality finish.

So even though when I mentioned before that PVA wasn't so useful for modelling 'cause it takes a long time to dry, you might have been thinking yes, but it's a stronger bond.

Yes it is.

It's a much stronger bond than say, using something such as a glue gun.

However, we are not aiming for high quality or really strong products.

Instead, what we're focusing on is that explorative nature of modelling, just like we did when we were doing our initial design sketching.

So for example, when using something as simple as paper and split pins, we can actually really help us to work out how a mechanism on a product could work, for example.

So paper with split pins could actually just help us to work out how that mechanism's gonna work, and that could be a really helpful model.

That model isn't even in 3D, but it has helped us, the designer, to work something out as part of our design.

Now one of Andeep's sketches can be modelled to help him understand if it could function in the way that he intends it to.

Now we are gonna use corrugated cardboard as this is sustainable, low in cost and is a strong material to withstand the 3D nature of this product.

Now what tools and joining methods could be used to make Andeep's model, do you think? Pause the video here, just take a moment to think about that question.

So this is Andeep's sketch that's going to be modelled.

Now the cabinet at the bottom of the product is modelled first.

And he's done this by drawing a cube net on a piece of corrugated cardboard and he's used a pencil and a ruler to do this.

Now depending on the thickness of the card, the net can be cut out using either a retractable knife with a cutting mat and a safety rule or a pair of scissors.

A glue gun is used to put the net together.

Now this has been chosen due to being really quick to dry and also invisible when used neatly.

Now the glue is applied on the inside of the edges, so it shouldn't be seen on the outside.

Now I mentioned before we're not aiming for high quality, but we do want it to be neat and to consider the way we're putting it together.

The cube is constructed by gently pressing the sides together as the glue cools.

And the model allows Andeep to correct any unrealized mistakes on the sketch.

Now, you may be able to spot this already, but just have a close look.

What mistake in the sketch has been discovered by creating a 3D model? Pause the video here and just look at those two images of the model and also the sketch to really think about this.

So the draw went into the same space that the top section would've actually been in.

So that didn't really work, and you can see in the model, Andeep's recognised that and realised that, and so has been able to draw an extra, or sorry, build an extra layer on top of the draw for that top cabinet, a kind of storage.

Now that hasn't been seen in the sketch and the model has immediately helped to realise that problem.

Okay, it's gonna be over to you now then.

I'd like you to choose one of your designs from your sketches and model it.

As well as doing that, I'd like you to then evaluate your model to explain what you have found out from modelling in 3D and how you have altered your design based on this.

Now this might be based on a mistake being found as you tried to model it, or it might be that you've realised some scale or proportion is a little off and actually it just doesn't quite look right and so you decided to change it as you've modelled.

Models do not need to be carbon copies of the sketch.

You should be trying to find something out from doing it.

So changes can be made and I would encourage you to do so.

Okay, pause the video here to have it go at this task and good luck.

Okay, how did you get on? We'll just look at Andeep's examples again.

So for your first task, you should have a 3D model of one of your ideas.

That 3D model may have changed a little bit or it might be exactly the same, but hopefully you've developed it or changed or altered something as you've realised either a mistake or something that would look better if done differently.

I also asked you to evaluate that model, so your answer might look similar to this.

We're gonna look at Andeep's evaluation here.

So he said, "I like the different compartments in the product, and I think this idea from the sketches functions well.

I realised that in my sketch, the drawer would've been in the same section as the top storage, so I had to make my model three layers instead of two." So he's just explained that realisation and how he's corrected it there.

"From modelling, I realised that the top section would need dividers for the art supplies to keep it tidy, and a shelf inside the cabinet would also help as well." So he's been able to find out some more functional kind of issues with the product as well, for modelling.

"I think the design looks a little boring, being quite boxy, so I think I could make it look a little more interesting." So as he's built it, he's also realised an aesthetic kind of issue as well.

Now notice when he's evaluated and he's picked up on some of these issues, he has explained what he's going to do to move that design forward and to fix those issues.

Rather than just saying what's wrong with it, he suggested how he could improve it.

Just compare your answer to Andeep's and see if you've got similar kind of things and you've explained your ideas really clearly.

And evaluate it clearly as well.

Right.

Let's summarise today's lesson then.

Today we've been looking at sketch modelling.

Now sketching is often the first way in which a designer starts their creative process.

And sketching is quick, freehand drawing of ideas or concepts, often done as a rough outline of an idea.

And sketching works best when it is quick with more concern given to the ideas themselves rather than the quality or detail of the drawings.

So you want it to be explorative.

Now, sometimes when sketching, you might be inspired by a stimulus, or you might be inspired by the function of the product.

Modelling is the process of creating physical or digital representations of design ideas, and we've been looking at the physical versions today.

We do this to help visualise and also test them.

And modelling helps us to understand things such as scale, proportion, and form in 3D.

Well done for all of your hard work in today's lesson.

Thank you for joining me and I will see you soon.