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D4M Project Exploration

D4M Project Brief

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D4M Development

During the Design Phase, you'll create a design for a Print or Digital Media outcome. That outcome will be up to you, but it could be anything.

You'll use research, kaitiakitanga and manaakitanga to help you decide what to make and who to make and why.

When designing none of the content create during this phase should be used for 92005 Develop a digital techologies outcome and vice versa. If you are 'designing' in the software you will be using to develop your outcome then you are actually creating the outcome.

DESIGN

Working through designs before creating the actual outcome is important as it helps you enhance your idea so that you can produce an outcome that looks good, works well and is well-thought out.

By designing you should cover these areas:

Clarity of Vision: Designing helps clarify the vision of what you want to create. It allows you to explore different possibilities, refine ideas, and make informed decisions about the final outcome.

Efficiency: By creating designs first, you can identify potential issues and make adjustments early in the process. This can save time and resources that would otherwise be spent on fixing problems during or after the creation phase.

Feedback: Designs can be shared and discussed with stakeholders or team members to gather feedback. This feedback is valuable for improving the quality of the final product and ensuring it meets the requirements and expectations of all involved parties.

Cost-Effectiveness: Making changes to a design is usually less costly than making changes to a completed product.

Creativity and Innovation: The design phase is an opportunity to brainstorm and innovate. It allows for experimentation with different ideas, techniques, and approaches, fostering creativity and leading to more innovative outcomes.

Risk Management: Designing helps identify potential risks and challenges early in the process. This enables you to develop strategies to mitigate these risks and ensure a smoother execution of the project.

Task #1: Initial Ideas

What Idea Generation Looks Like

2D / 3D
Sketches
Can be quite basic

You need to come up with at least 3 ideas. Note that depending on your outcome this might look slightly different (some examples on the slides).

This stage should be mainly sketches.
Each idea should include some (brief) notes explaining your design ideas and addressing the appropriate conventions.
You can use your phone to take pics of concepts OR you could video the work and talk about the design rather than writing notes. Whichever you choose you need to upload to your doc.

Copy of DT | Design - Idea Generation: D4M

Kaitiakitanga

Have you considered the potential impacts of your ideas. Who or what might be positively or negatively affected by it. Impacts on people could be monetary, emotional, physical or spiritual. For example:

Just because you can, should you (moral/ethical)
You should make sure you are not stealing other people's ideas (intellectual property).
You should make sure you are allowed to use other people’s content like music or tutorials (copyright).
The content should be inoffensive and age appropriate (moral/ethical and legal).
The content should be viewable by ALL people on their device and not create any barriers to them viewing it. (accessibility).
And lots more!

Task #2: Feedback

At this point you need to get some feedback, especially if you have options but not quite sure which path to follow.

Giving and receiving design feedback is tough. Feedback should be helpful, could improve the work, move things forward and bring about confidence. Quite often feedback is unconstructive and can be ill-aimed, irrelevant, antagonistic.

Feedback needs to be constructive… and honest

Use THE FEEDBACK MATRIX - see slides (scroll down on right)

But what does it mean to be constructive?

Adjective

1. serving a useful purpose; tending to build up

The Feedback Matrix.pdf

What to do with all that feedback.....

You've received feedback and it's important to work out what feedback is relevant and why.

Task #3: Refining Your Design Ideas

What Design Refinement Looks Like

2D / 3D
Drawings - hand or computer generated
Specific details looked into further
May have reference images or content

Based on your ideas and the feedback you received you should be able to

Take one idea or combine a range of ideas to create a refined sketch that might have a few alternate options within.
Exploring further options to get feedback on will help you present your Final Design e.g colours options, textures / materials, layout, style or look of content (images / videos / animations)
Each idea should include some (brief) notes explaining your design ideas and addressing the appropriate conventions.

DT | L1 Design - Refinement: D4M

Task #4: More Feedback

You should have already worked through this process earlier.

Using the same FEEDBACK MATRIX from above get further feedback on your refined ideas.

This feedback should make putting together your Final Design quiet easy.

Remember:

Feedback should be helpful
Help with choosing options / give direction
Might identify a gap or something that hasn't been considered
Make sure it feedback given is constructive and relevant

You are trying to get rid of the unintended consequences.

If feedback is unconstructive it can be ill-aimed, irrelevant, antagonistic.

Task #5: Final Design

Based on your ideas and refinement the Final Design for a design for manufacture outcome may include:

Technical Drawings: Detailed drawings with dimensions, tolerances, and materials specified.
Components required, including quantities and sources.
Assembly Instructions: Step-by-step guide on how to assemble the product, with illustrations.
Physical or virtual prototypes to test functionality and fit.
Materials and reference images of materials

The design should be polished versions of the design with detailed information on the above points.

If you are using placeholder content as you need to capture this during development then make this clear. Any images used in the design should be high-resolution and appropriately licensed.

Task #6: Appropriateness of Design

Your goal is to explain why your design is a good fit for the purpose, the people using it, and the world around it by showing care for others and the environment..

Structure Your Response Like This:

Introduction Paragraph
Main Body Paragraphs
- Meeting the requirements
- Thinking about the end users
- Design factors
- Showing manaakitanga
- Using kaitiakitanga
Conclusion Paragraph

1. Introduction Paragraph

Start by clearly explaining:

What you made (brief description of your outcome)
Why you made it (the purpose or goal)
Who it’s for (your end user or target audience

Sentence Starters:

“For this project, I created a digital outcome that is a ________.”
“The purpose of my design was to ________.”
“This design is mainly for ________, who will use it to ________.”

Example:

"For this project, I created a digital poster to promote our school’s Esports club. The goal was to attract new members and give clear information about when and where we meet. The poster is aimed at students aged 13–17 who are interested in gaming."

2. Meeting the Requirements

Explain what the task asked for and how your design fits that.

What to include:

What were you asked to design?
What were the must-haves or success criteria?
How does your design meet those?

Sentence Starter:

“My design meets the main requirements because…”

Example sentence:

"I was asked to create a logo for a skateboarding brand. My design includes bold, high-contrast colours and clear text, which meets the requirement to make it eye-catching and easy to read on merchandise."

3. Thinking About the End Users

Talk about who the design is for and how it meets their needs.

What to include:

Who is going to use or see this outcome?
What do they care about?
How does your design suit their needs?

Sentence Starter:

“I thought about what my users would want by…”

Example sentence:

"The logo is designed for teenagers who are into skateboarding and streetwear. I used a graffiti-style font because it appeals to that audience and fits their style."

4. Design Factors You Considered

Discuss choices around colours, layout, tools, accessibility, and more.

What to include:

What design decisions did you make and why?
Think about usability, accessibility, sustainability, aesthetics (how it looks), function, etc.

Sentence Starter:

“I made design decisions such as… because…”

Example sentence:

"I chose a limited colour palette to keep printing costs low and made sure the design would still look good in black and white for screen printing."

5. Showing Manaakitanga (Care for Others)

Explain how you showed care, kindness, or support through your design process.

What to include:

How did you show respect, kindness, or support through your design?
Did you get feedback or consider the feelings of others?

Sentence Starter:

“I showed manaakitanga by…”

Example sentence:

"I showed manaakitanga by asking my classmates for feedback and making changes to the design based on their ideas so that it better reflected our shared style."

6. Using Kaitiakitanga (Guardianship and Protection)

Mention how you looked after resources or the environment.

What to include:

Did you make choices that care for the environment or community?
Did you avoid waste or use tools/resources responsibly?
Did you design a product that is easy to assemble, disassemble, repair, or recycle?
Did you choose materials that have a low environmental impact?
Did you consider the full product lifecycle, including packaging and disposal?

Sentence Starter:

“To show kaitiakitanga, I…”

Example sentence:

"I used free, open-source software instead of buying expensive programs, and I reused digital assets from my earlier work, which showed kaitiakitanga by reducing waste."

7. Conclusion Paragraph

Wrap everything up by:

Repeating why your design is appropriate
Mentioning how it supports your users and reflects values
Showing confidence in your final outcome

Sentence Starters:

“Overall, my design is appropriate because…”
“It successfully meets the needs of… and shows values like…”
“I am proud of the final outcome because…”

Example:

"Overall, my design is appropriate because it meets the project requirements, is easy for students to understand, and uses design features that appeal to my audience. It also shows manaakitanga by including feedback from others and kaitiakitanga by using sustainable tools. I’m proud of how it turned out and believe it will be effective in promoting the club."

<------ DESIGN PORTFOLIO EXTERNAL ------>

If you are doing the design portfolio external AS92007 then you will need to head over to this page 92007 Design

Ideally your want to put together this portfolio of design work as soon as you have finished your design while it is fresh in your mind AND so there is no issues including work from developing your outcome.

Now it's time to turn your design into reality

Next: D4M Development

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