Product Design and Technologies: should I choose it?

Developing and conceptualising designs

Generating, designing and producing

Opportunities for positive impacts for end users

Designing for positive impacts for end users

Cultural influences on design

Unit 3, AOS 1 — Influences on design, development and production of products

How products are made in industry and what that costs people and the planet. You compare one-off, low-volume, high-volume and continuous production and the technologies suited to each. You also compare lean manufacturing against flexible and responsive manufacturing. Sustainability frameworks include the 6Rs, circular economy, cradle-to-cradle, Design for Disassembly, Extended Producer Responsibility, lifecycle assessment and the triple bottom line. Planned obsolescence is studied in its style, technical and functional forms. Production technologies range from CAD, CAM and CNC to laser cutting, rapid 3D prototyping, robotics, automation and AI. Experimental and alternative materials include mycelium, 3D-printing polymers, composite metals, repurposed plastics, vegan leather and bamboo.

Unit 3, AOS 2 — Investigating opportunities for ethical design and production

The first diamond of the Double Diamond: investigating and defining a real need or opportunity. You formulate a design brief (need or opportunity, end-user profile, function, project scope with constraints and considerations), turn the scope into evaluation criteria, research ethically using primary and secondary, qualitative and quantitative methods (including digital methods to investigate market needs) while acknowledging intellectual property, and generate graphical product concepts as visualisations, design options and working drawings in drawing systems suited to your specialisation.

Unit 3, AOS 3 — Developing a final proof of concept for ethical production

The second diamond: turning graphical concepts into physical ones. You test materials, tools and processes through experiments and trials, build prototypes to select and justify a chosen product concept, synthesise end-user feedback into a final proof of concept, weigh social, environmental, economic and worldview considerations when selecting materials, tools and processes, and prepare a scheduled production plan with production steps, estimated times, quality measures, materials and costings, tools and processes, and risk assessments with safety control measures.

Unit 4, AOS 1 — Managing production for ethical designs

Making the product safely and on time. You apply risk management to materials, chemicals, tools and processes, set goals as you follow the scheduled production plan, monitor efficiency and effectiveness, manage time and other resources, and document and justify the decisions and modifications you make along the way.

Unit 4, AOS 2 — Evaluation and speculative design

Judging products and looking ahead. You evaluate your own and existing products with evidence-based qualitative and quantitative methods, criteria and end-user feedback, interpret and present data, and decide what makes a product succeed. You also study research and development, speculative design thinking, innovation and entrepreneurial activity, and products that integrate new and emerging technologies, with their environmental, economic, social and worldview issues.

Cross-study specifications — factors that influence product design

The cross-study specifications are examinable and supply the vocabulary for nearly every answer: the factors that influence product design (need or opportunity, function, end users, aesthetics, market needs and opportunities, product lifecycle, technologies, ethical considerations), the design elements and principles, sustainability's environmental, economic and social dimensions, legal responsibilities such as intellectual property and Australian and ISO standards, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander design knowledge.