INVESTIGATION: The main stages

The Problem, the Design Brief and the Design Specification.

1. Developing the problem and appropriate response.

Before you can can start a design project you must know the ‘problem’ to solve. Sometimes this may be given to you as a question set by the teacher or in business a client will ask you to solve a design problem or create a product for them. You need to explains and critically investigate the design problem, discussing its relevance to life, society and or the environment. You also need to think about how you may respond to the challenge.

2. The Design Brief

The design brief is your response to the challenge, showing how you intend to solve the problem you have been presented with. This will guide your investigation as you work to develop a more detailed design specification.To write a design brief create a BRIEF summary of the Problem and the appropriate Response as ONE short paragraph.

    • Problem / Challenge - A short sentence that describes the main problem to be solved
    • Response - (The Designer's Task / What the successful design will do) - A broad outline of how you intend to solve the problem. What you as a designer must create and what the successful design must achieve.

3. Critically investigate the problem

Use research to continue to critically investigate the problem. You should formulate and discuss appropriate questions that guide the investigation.Remember you need to be able to assess the impact of your design on life, society and or the environment at the end of the project. You also need to acknowledge all sources. See here for help on footnotes, the bibliography and research techniques.

4. The Design Specification

Design specification: A detailed description of the conditions, requirements and restrictions with which a design must comply. This is a precise and accurate list of facts such as conditions, dimensions, materials, process and methods that are important for the designer and for the user. All appropriate solutions will need to comply with the design specification. From MYP documentation 2006

After your research you can develop a Design Specification. This will tell you:

  1. The Audience- Who you are designing for (who will see/buy the product)
  2. Objective - What the successful design must do: This is a description of what the solution will accomplish. It could indicate how well the solution is expected to work or under what conditions it will work
  3. Production -
    • What it should look like (Size/colours/etc)
    • What it should be made from
    • Tools needed to make the product
    • Time needed to complete the product
  4. Usage - How it will be used

Design specification example: Always write a possitive specification, the design will...... Not I will try and.....

  • The design will be made for the general public. It will be sold in the charity shop
  • It will generate income for the charity
  • It will be a message pad holder
  • It will have an easily recognizable wildlife theme
  • It will have a simple shape
  • It will have simple lines
  • It will lie flat
  • It will be possible to hang it up
  • It will hold at least 20 pieces of A6 recycled paper
  • It will be made from 170 x 220mm mdf
  • It will be made in portrait
  • It will be used in the home to write reminder notes

The design specification will ensure that your designing gets off to a good start. As you develop your design ideas, it is important to check your ideas against the specification to avoid losing sight of what the product has to do.


5. Using The Specification - The tests

"For a student to achieve the higher descriptor of this criterion (5-6), he/she has to describe a minimum of 3 detailed tests such as conducting a survey to potential users (a sample questionnaire could be provided), observation and recording of actual product testing by the intended users and evaluating the product against the list of the design specification and using it as a checklist to determine the success of the product." IBO, 2006