| Getting
started in design.
Good design
is difficult! Designers spend many years learning the theory
and practice of design before becoming good. We need to learn
a bit about design a lot quicker than that, so this booklet
has been produced to help you.
You will
remember the word PRISM from the Graphic Communications
course. We can use this word to help us remember a simple design
process – all the steps we need to complete a
good design, including making the thing we have designed.
The PRISM
design process
P
stands for the problem. We have to make a clock!
This has to be an original design of yours, and made using any
of the resources we have at JTEC. It has to be completed in
6 school weeks and it has to include all the design drawings.
These will be explained later.
R
stands for the research questions that have
to be answered, for example:
Who
is the clock for?
Where will it stand or hang?
What size will it be?
Will it have a theme?
What colours does it have to be?
This
will require that you produce what designers call preliminary
drawings. These are freehand sketches of your ideas about what
the clock will look like.
I
stands for investigate the materials, tools
and skills required to make the clock:
S
stands for choosing a solution. This will require
that you produce what designers call production drawings. These
are accurate 2D and 3D drawings of what the clock will look
like.
M
stands for manufacture of the clock. Using
your production drawings you will make the clock in the workshop.
Evaluating the clock design
A
final stage is the evaluation stage. Write
a short report about the finished clock. Use a SWOT
report.
S
stands for strengths of the design, in your
opinion. What is good about the clock?
W
stands for weaknesses in the design, in your
opinion. What is not so good about the clock?
O
stands for others’ opinions about the
design which made you think about changes.
T
stands for tweaks or improvements you would
make if manufacturing this design again.
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