G-Design processes and Evaluation Flashcards
The stages of a product life cycle?
Introduction-See the product being launched and the marketing involved.
Growth-Once the product is on the market the sales should grow as consumers seek to replace older models, advertsing plays a key role to ensure the consumers know the benefits of the new product.
Maturity-When the sales will peak, the company will want to ensure that this stage lasts as long as possible to reap maximum sales from their investment.
Decline and replacement-Sales will eventually diminish as most interested consumers have purchased the product, and some will be anticipating a replacement model, when it is withdrawn from sale the replacement model should be growing its sales.
What is demand pull?
Designers respond to demand from consumers for desirabl product features.
What is planned obsolescence?
-The concept of companies designing and manufacturing their products in such a way to ensure that they have to be replaced on a regular basis.
-Due to factors such as the unavailability of spare parts, not being able to run the latest software or premature failure.
The design brief?
It outlines the core details and expectations of the project and should include:
-A description of the problem being solved.
-Images and details of the context and current situation.
-Explanation why existing products are not suitable or do not meet the needs of the user.
-Details of the client and target market.
-A description of the key functions of the prducts.
-A list of the key areas of focus to ensure the products success.
Existing product analysis?
-Use the product, easier to understand how well it functions.
-Disassemble the product, what are the vital components of the product and how do they work.
-Compare products, what works well and what doesn’t.
-Seek other opinions, get other people to also analyse the products.
-Assess ergonomics, how easy and comfortable is the product to use.
-Check against criteria, how well do these products fit your design brief.
-Aesthetics and cost, look at options for the best looks which are also the most cost effective.
Investigation of suitable materials?
-Construction and finishes, test and then select the most appropriate ones for your product.
-Technical infomation from specialists, use secondary research from reliable sources online.
-Technical testing, carry out your own primary research using material testing.
Other investigation forms?
-Client and user groups, meeting with clients to discuss requirements.
-Internet forum, used to gain a general public opinion.
-Style influences, looking at work from other designers to gain inspiration.
-British standards, follow the requirements in the product development laid out in this legislation.
-Anthropemetric data, carry out research to ensure it will fit relevant customers.
-Talking to specialist in the field to help identify key design crteria.
-Consider relevant social, moral, ethical and environmental factors.
Inspiration materials?
-Mood boards, a collage of images relating to the product, which might include colours, styles and other inspirational images.
-Inspiration boxes, might include swatches, colour samples, sample materials and existing products.
-Job bags, a collection of cuttings from newspapers, magazines, sketches, coponents and products.
Idea generation methods?
The SCAMPER technique:
-Substitute, change materials, components finishes and so on.
-Combine, mix ideas or parts of ideas.
-Adapt, alter the design using parts of other ideas, change the function and adapt mechanisms.
-Modify, change the shape of the design, increase or decrease the size.
-Put it to another use, an alternative use for the design.
-Eliminate, remove or reduce parts to simplify the design.
-Reverse, turn the design inside out or upside down.
Collaborative team designing, no single designer will work on a project, various designers will add to the design and develop it in turn, therefore the expertise and creative minds of the whole team can be used and the it can decrease the total time for the design process.
4x4 design activity, starts with one person drawing a design in the centre of the sheet, the second process uses the first drawing as inspiration to develop it further and this continues until there are four completed designs.
Thinking hats?
The group takes it in turns to wear different coloued hats in order to analyse a design from different viewpoints:
-The white hat, represents the facts and essential information
-The red hat, represents feelings and emotions, they can be subjective and do not need to be rational.
-The yellow hat, encourages the wearer to think positively about the design.
-The black hat, encouraged to discuss the negative aspects of the idea.
-The green hat, encourages creative thinking, unconventional solutions to improve the design.
-The blue hat, the wearer should direct the discussion and decide when to change hats.
Development of a design specification?
A list of requirements that the design must meet to be successful
-Aesthetics, specific colours, shapes, textures and finishes.
-Cost, a target cost that could influence the material and manufacture methods.
-Consumer, specific requirements outlined by individuals or in focus groups.
-Environment, where will the product be used and what factors might effect it.
-Safety, how can potential hazards be minimised, will it need a minimum age.
-Size, are there size constraints because it needs to fit into a cetain space.
-Function, what will the product do and how will it perform it.
-Materials, which ones will be used and what manufacturing processes are needed, are they sustainable.
Modelling?
-Made using compliant materials such as paper, foam and polymorph, because they are quick and easy to work with.
-Sketch models, they will use cardboard or paper because they are easy to cut fold and glue.
-Scale models, used to easily visulise the design and communicate ideas, demonstrate the aesthetics and function.
-Full-sized models, used to check proportions and test ergonomics before committing to using more expensive materials.
Planning?
-Concurrent stages, sub-assemblies are prepared before joining together on the final product.
-Timings, consider the sequence of operations whilst planning the manufacture.
-Graphical methods, such as critical path analysis can be used to help plan manufacture.
-Flow charts, plan out the production operations, to reduce idel times and maximise efficiency.
Evaluation and testing?
-Summarise the key points that need to be considered in your own design after any investigations such as disassembly and existing product analysis.
-After initial design drawings are completed they should be evaluated with the client and potential users.
-When the design proposal is produced, then 3D CAD drawings may be shown to the client to gain feedback, their comments can then be used in further iterations of the design
-Models and prototypes should be tested with the client and feedback is used to further refine the product.
-Test and evaluate possible materials, manufacture and construction methods.
-A detailed comparison against the specification.
-Test a prototype in its intended environment to see how it can be developed further.
Collaborative working?
-Using the expertise, skills and knowledge of numerous people.
-It is useful as many products require a range of skills that cant always be provided by a single person.
-It is more efficient and provide the designer with specialist knowledge.
The iterative (cyclic) process?
-Designers constantly evaluate their designs with their clients and potential users.
-Using feedback designers create new iterations of their design and again gain feedback.
Critical analysis and evaluation?
-Critical analysis, ensures an in-depth, objective study is made on elements of the design often linked to related research, critical anaysis of existing products against the specification criteria can be used to form the basis of your own specification.
-Evaluation is more concerned with testing how effectively the products satisfy the requirements of the specification.
Product safety and recall?
Ensure that a product is safe before it is released:
-This can result in harmful situations occurring that can lead to product recalls.
-The cost of rectifying these problems is very expensive compared to solving it at the design or manufacture stage.
Third party feedback?
Feedback from people that are not involved in the design or manufacture.
Quality and safety certification?
-BS 8888, product manufacture, assembly, disassembly and end-of-life processing.
-BS 1363, 13-amp plugs, sockets and electrical equipment.
-ASTM F3078, lead content in paint.
The standards specifies exactly how manufacture and testing should be carried out and an indication that the certification has been met may be shown on a product with a CE mark or a BSI mark.
Focus group activities?
-Direct questioning and group discussions, gain peples attitudes towards the product.
-Physical interactions with the product, obtain level of comfort experienced when handling the product.
-Making suggestions for product improvements and desireable features, how could it be more appealing to the consumer.
-Creating mood boards, possible product suggestions.
