Lesson video

Hi there, everybody.

My name is Mr. Booth.

And welcome to your design and technology lesson for today.

In today's lesson, we are gonna be looking at product requirements, more specifically at how you can write a great design brief, and then use that to inform your specification.

This lesson is part of the Iterative Design unit, where we're focusing on the context of nature.

Today's outcome, I want you to be able to write a design brief to define the design opportunity that you have chosen.

And then from this, you'll be able to inform your specification.

We have four keywords for today that I want you to keep an eye out for.

The first one is requirements, something which is needed or wanted.

And in this context, it's gonna be all about the product you are gonna be designing to solve the problem.

We then have design fixation.

This is where you consider only one possibility, and we need to try and keep away from that.

We then have specific, something that is clearly defined and detailed.

And by writing a really good design brief, you can write a really good specification and be specific to be able to solve your problem.

And then, finally, we have viable, and this is something that is capable of being successful.

And ultimately, if we have done all our things correctly in our design process, then we will have a viable solution for our end user.

We have two learning cycles today, the first one is all about design brief, and the second one is about the design specification.

So let's start with learning cycle one.

A design brief outlines what will be designed and manufactured.

This should be open enough to allow scope for creative design ideas, whilst also avoiding design fixation.

Remember that from our keywords, where you only consider one possibility.

We don't wanna do that.

A design brief must also be specific enough to ensure designs address the design opportunity identified from your chosen context.

The design brief is written after the initial context investigation and exploration.

And let's remember that a context exploration is where the context is considered and primary and secondary research is conducted.

A client will be identified.

Design opportunities, which are sometimes called problems to solve, will also be identified at this stage.

So here, we have a quick check for understanding.

Which design brief allows scope for creative design ideas?

We have A, I'm gonna design and manufacture a sunhat for a three-year-old girl.

And then we have B, I'm gonna design and manufacture a product to protect young children when playing outdoors in the sun.

So which of those two design briefs allow for creative design ideas?

Which one would suit that better?

Pause the video now, have a go at this, and come back to me when you've got your answer.

So how did he get on?

Well, I would say B, because that's leaving it open enough for me to form my own designs.

Whereas A, it's already saying it's a sunhat, and it's already said it's a three-year-old girl.

That's very specific for a design brief.

So well done if you got B.

A successful design brief identifies the following information about the design opportunity or problem to solve, who, where, what, and of course, why.

So who are we designing this product for?

Do we have an end user?

We should have, really.

Where is the product gonna be used?

That's really important.

What do we actually want this product to do?

And why do we want to do that?

Now, that can really help.

This criteria can really help with forming a design brief.

Now, here, we have an example of a design brief which doesn't meet that criteria, which I have just showed you.

I'm gonna design and manufacturer an efficient leaf collection system.

Now, which of the success criteria has this design brief met?

So I want you to think about this, and then decide which of those four it has met.

So pause the video now, have a think, and come back to me when you think you've got an answer.

So which ones did you think it met?

Well, for me, it's only the what.

We're designing and manufacturing an efficient leaf collection system.

There's no who, we don't know who we're designing it for.

We don't know where this is gonna be used.

Is it gonna be in a garden?

Is it gonna be in an industrial setting?

And we don't know why, what are the reasons for this?

Is it just for tidying a garden, or is this more for health and safety, to make sure people can get around easier?

Here, we have another check for understanding.

Now, what are the successful criteria when writing a design brief?

There's four criteria I've already shared with you.

Can you remember what they are?

Pause the video now, have a go at this, come back to me when you've got your answer.

How did you get on?

Well, hopefully, you got who, what, where, and why.

Well done if you got all four of those.

Now, here, we have an example of a design brief which does meet the success criteria.

I will design and manufacture an accessible herb-growing system for wheelchair users.

It will enable easy watering, sunlight positioning, and independent herb cutting.

This will address the current issue of inaccessible windowsill placement, as the kitchen windowsill is too high.

So let's have a closer look and see each of the success criteria, and how this design brief has satisfied those.

Well, first of all, it's the what, a herb-growing system.

We then have who this is for, and this is for wheelchair users.

And that's really important, because they will have very different needs to someone who is not using a wheelchair.

Then we have the where.

Well, this is gonna happen in a kitchen.

That's quite sensible as well, because often we use herbs in our cooking.

So let's grow them in our kitchen.

And then, of course, we have the why.

Well, because the windowsill is too high.

So we need to design a new product that is more accessible.

So you can see, this design brief has covered all the success criteria.

So we're now onto your first task, task A.

I would like you to write a design brief for a design opportunity or problem you have identified within the context of nature.

You need to include who, where, what, and why.

Pause the video now, have a go at this, and come back to me when you got your answer.

So how did he get on?

Well, let's have a look at Jacob's, 'cause he has very kindly shared his design brief with us.

"I'm gonna design and manufacture a reusable system for packaging packed lunches.

This must be waterproof and washable.

It must also be easy to transport from home to school.

" Thank you, Jacob.

And then we have Izzy.

Izzy has said, "I'm gonna design and manufacture a system to teach young children about animal conservation in the wild.

My sister and I visited the local zoo and realized how many wild animals are in danger.

I think a teaching toy or aid in nursery school would really help children to understand this from a young age.

" Fantastic, Izzy.

Well done.

So we're now onto our second learning cycle.

So this is all about specifications.

A specification is a list of criteria a products must have or do.

This is sometimes called product requirements.

The requirements are identified by conducting research, which usually involves research in the context and identifying a client or user.

So there'll be lots of primary research in this initial phase, research that you've done yourself.

It will also involve considering the environmental, social, and moral issues associated with designing and manufacturing within a specific context.

And in this context, it's all around nature.

Products we buy also have specifications and can be used to compare and select the most appropriate products.

For example, if you were choosing a gift for a two-year-old, a construction set designed for three-year-olds and older would not meet the requirements.

So you probably wouldn't buy it.

Quick check for understanding.

A specification is a list of criteria.

How do designers decide what that criteria should be?

Is it A, identifying other designers, B, conducting research, or C, identifying the client or user?

Pause the video now, come back to me when you've got your answer.

It is, of course, conducting research and making sure you've identified that client or user.

This is an example of a specification.

It must support a weight of up to 150 kilograms.

It should have adjustable height, ranging from 40 centimeters to 55 centimeters.

The product must be easy to move.

The seat and backrest must be padded with breathable, durable fabric.

Now, can you guess what this product actually is from its specification?

Pause the video now, have a go at this, and come back to me when you think you've got an answer.

So did you guess what it is?

You probably guessed a chair, or maybe even more specifically, an office chair, because of its adjustability.

And here's another example of a specification.

The product must entertain children from four years old and upwards.

The product must be suitable for two to four players.

The product should be bright and colorful.

The component should be large enough to prevent choking hazards.

Once again, have a little guess, see if you can figure out what this product might be from this specification.

Pause the video now and come back to me when you got your answer.

Now, this, of course, is a board game, but you probably guessed it was a game at least.

Well done.

Now, when writing a specification, it can be quite a daunting task.

I find it really helpful to use what we call subheadings.

And these help frame my thoughts.

They give me something to focus on individually, before I bring everything together.

Now, here are some common examples that you will see in specifications.

So we, of course, have environment, that's really important, that we need to consider the environmental aspects of our product, the cost, manufacture, and also use, and how much it's gonna sell for.

We have the aesthetics, obviously, what the product is gonna look like, manufacture, how we're gonna make it, the ergonomics, the interaction with the user, the lifecycle, so the full life cycle of the product.

Are we considering all aspects of that product?

The safety, we've already talked about that with things like choking hazards for games.

The user, who is the end user, the materials we're gonna make it out of, the functionality, the function of the actual product, the form, and of course, the size of it.

So by using these subheadings, this will help frame your thoughts when writing the specification.

So quick check for understanding.

Let's take a look at Jacob's design brief.

Let's remind ourselves.

"I'm gonna design and manufacture a reusable system for packaging packed launches.

This must be waterproof and washable.

It must also be easy to transport from home to school.

" Which subheadings on the right-hand side would be suitable to use for his specification if he was gonna select some of those?

So have a look through his design brief, have a look through those, pause the video now, and come back to me when you think you've got your answers.

So which subheadings do you think are most useful?

Well, first of all, environment.

I think that's really important.

First of all, we're talking about a package system, so there's food in there, and also we're thinking about the environmental aspects across everything that this product has to do.

The function is really important in this product.

It's got to contain food, and it's also gonna be transported.

So the functionality is important as well.

And that leads onto the materials, because they obviously have to be good as well.

We're talking, that again, about food here.

And then the size, I can see that it's gotta be transported from home and to school.

So we need to consider that as well.

So these subheadings would be suitable.

I'm sure you've got very similar ones as I did.

So once we have our subheadings, we can expand on these points by providing specific details, we call these specification points.

So first of all, we had our subheading of environment.

The specification points might be, my product must be reusable many times.

It must also be suitable to be recycled at the end of its life.

We then have the function, which we decided was really important.

It must hold food for a packed lunch hygienically.

The materials, well, they need to be sustainable and easy to clean.

And finally, the size.

While thinking about transporting from home to school, and back again, we don't really want it to be under 200 millimeters, so it contains enough food, but we also don't really want it to be over 300 millimeters.

Otherwise, it's becoming a bit bulky.

Now, what could Jacob add to improve this specification?

Pause the video now, have a go at this, and come back to me when you got your answer.

Well, I think, actually, what he could do is add an explanation to justify each of these points.

It's great that we've got a specification point, but we haven't really justified them.

So let's have a closer look at that.

Specifications must specify all the criteria the product must have or do.

We achieve this by using subheadings and being specific.

It's important to explain each specification point.

This is known, of course, as justification.

So Jacob has now added a justification to his specification.

So we have what we had before, but what we've also done now is we have justified each of those specification points.

So for environment, when we're talking about it being reusable and suitable to be recycled, we're saying, "Well, that's so materials are kept in use for as long as possible, and they're not just discarded.

" The functionality, we wanted it to hold food for the packed lunch hygienically.

So we want to make sure we've got adequate ceiling that prevents leaks and spills.

And then for the material, we want it to be sustainable and easy to clean.

Well, of course, that's to prevent illness or from mold or bacteria.

And then finally, the size.

Well, this, of course, is so it can fit inside a backpack, which is what most school-aged children carry their lunches in.

Quick check for understanding.

Specifications must be A, specific, B, generic, C, justified?

Pause the video now, have a go at this, and come back to me when you've got your answers.

It is, of course, specific and justified.

Well done.

A specification defines the requirements a product must meet.

A design is considered viable, which means successful, if it fulfills these requirements.

So what we need to do is be able to test each specification point.

And we do this to ensure the design meets all requirements and actually is viable.

Of course, if it doesn't meet all the requirements of the specification, we've probably not designed a successful product, and it's probably gonna fail for the end user.

So there are different methods of testing if the design has met the specification points successfully.

Product testing, this is where the product is tested in use.

Feedback from experts, the user, or the client, this is where interviews and questionnaires can be used to gather information.

So you could conduct a questionnaire, gather information, and then use that to see if your design has been successful.

Let's watch a quick product testing video to see how this might be done.

(gadget clicks) (gadget clicks) (gadget clicks) (gadget squeaking and rattling) (plate clangs) (blades tapping) (gadget tapping) (knife scraping) (knife tapping) (knife clangs) (gadget clicks) Measurements and visual inspections can also be used to test a design against a specification.

Measurements, well, an aspect of the product is measured, this could be the size or the weight.

We also could carry out visual inspection where someone actually visually inspects the product and compares that against the specification.

Quick check for understanding.

True or false, all tests during the design process must be measured?

Have a go at this, pause the video now, and come back to me when you've got your answer.

It is, of course, false, but I wanna know why.

So pause the video again now, come back to me when you think you understand why.

Well, it is, of course, feedback from users, clients, and experts, alongside visual inspections, are also methods of testing products during the iterative design process.

Well done.

Now, Jacob has added the test he will conduct to his specification table.

Now, of course, you don't have to lay out a specification in a table like this, but I think it's quite a useful way of framing all the information.

So we have all our different points from before for the specification point and the justification.

But what we've now done is also added a test column.

So for environment, we're gonna gather user expert feedback on whether or not it satisfies that point.

For function, we're gonna test the product in use.

For materials, we might also gather user/client feedback.

And then finally, for the size, we're actually gonna measure it.

So we can do that ourselves.

And of course, that should happen a lot over the design process to make sure we design a successful product.

So we're now onto task B.

Using your design brief, choose six subheadings.

I then want you to write a specification point for each of the subheadings to detail what your product must have and do.

And remember that success criteria, be specific and also justify those points.

I then want you to explain how each specification point could be tested.

Pause the video now, have a go at this, and come back to me when you've completed it.

So how did you get on?

Well, let's have a look at some examples from Jacob here.

So first of all, I wanted you to choose six suitable subheadings.

Jacob chose the following, user, materials, function, aesthetics, environment, and safety.

I then want you to write a specification point for each of the subheadings to detail what your product must have and do.

You might have something similar to this.

So for example, for user, the herb-growing system must be suitable for wheelchair users.

And the justification is to ensure the user can use the product safely and efficiently.

Materials, the materials must be waterproof and suitable for cleaning.

The product will need to hold plants which need watering, and therefore, it must be waterproof.

The function, it must allow herbs to be grown from seeds and also as plants.

Some users want to grow herbs from seeds, and others will want to buy plants.

Continue this, we have the aesthetics.

It must fit into the modern gray-and-silver kitchen theme.

My user has a modern gray-and-silver kitchen theme, so it's got to fit into that.

Environment, it's got to be sustainable.

And the justification for this is, the user is very conscious about the environment and would prefer not to cause any damage for future generations.

And then we have safety.

The system must be stable and not topple over.

Some plants grow taller than others, that's the justification.

Finally, I wanted you to explain how each specification point could be tested.

Your answers might have included something like this.

So the user, test the product, gather user feedback.

The materials, we can gather user feedback to see whether that we've satisfied that one.

Test the product and gather feedback.

For aesthetics, gather user feedback.

And for environment, gather expert feedback.

And then finally, for safety, conduct a visual inspection.

I'm sure yours were absolutely fantastic.

Well done.

So we're now at the end of today's lesson.

Let's have a quick summary.

A design brief is a statement which explains what you are going to design and manufacture.

This should be open enough to allow scope for creative design ideas, whilst also avoiding design fixation.

A specification is a list of criteria a product must have or do.

This is sometimes called the product requirements, which are identified from primary and secondary research.

You've been absolutely brilliant today.

I look forward to seeing you all next time.

Goodbye.