Year 11 Design Projects

Students will study the use of logos and emblems in advertising and history. They will then self-reflect on their own personal and cultural interests to design an emblem to personally represent themselves. Students will then put this emblem on a receptacle for a precious object of theirs or someone close to them. The receptacle must be designed and tailored to the dimensions, use, storage/display of this specific object. A range of manufacturing methods and materials can be used.

Bluetooth Speaker Project

The students design and make a sound amplification system. This project is purposefully more open-ended than experiences earlier in the MYP. Students can utilize a wide range of materials and manufacturing techniques. Amplification can be through the use of electronic circuits or by using sound shaping and resonance techniques (or a combination of the two). The students are required to document their thinking in a complete design folder. This project is intended to act as both a conclusion to their MYP Design experience and as an indicator of the types of experiences the students can expect in the Diploma Design Technology course. Additionally a focused practical task to design and make Soda bottle opener challenges students to consider the psychological and emotional needs of the user in the development of a soda bottle opener.

Additional projects available to the students

Playing Card Box

This project reinforces the need for careful planning and designing in the creation of a 3D-printed playing card box and laser cut lid. Can the designer work to the precision required for the lid to perfectly fit the box?

Phone Stand

The designers consider the anthropometric needs of the user, and the functional requirements of a phone use, in the design of a phone stand. The product can be manufactured using 2D or 3D CAD/CAM.

Post-It Storage Box

Testing their understanding of finger-joint boxes, and their ability to create hinged lids, the designers are required to design and create a decorative Post-It storage box. This project inherits many of the planning features of the ‘Playing Card Box’ mini-project (see above).

Awareness of the environmental impact of the things we buy is more relevant than ever. Green design is one way in which designers can move towards a more sustainable future. In this context students are set the challenge to design and make a pencil case which meets the requirements of the IB so it can be used in IB examinations, adheres to the principles of green design and meets the needs of year 12 students, the target market (user-centred design). Students will explore the principles of green design, discover what materials are most sustainable and gain extensive experience of using 2D CAD/CAM. This project is also a taster of a topic covered in the DP Design Technology core curriculum.