Now it’s time to choose your best idea! This is the idea you want to develop further and actually create.
It’s important to explain your thinking at this step. That’s why we ‘justify’ our choice. To justify, you should explain why this design was chosen instead of the others. The more detail you can give, the better. You should reference your specifications here, to talk about how your chosen design meets them. If it doesn’t meet one or more specifications, you should give reasons why it was still chosen. If there are parts of the design you plan to change or develop in more detail for the next step, you can mention that here.
You can also combine parts from different ideas. For example, with the backpack designs in the previous section, you might take the pocket design from one design and combine it with the strap design from another.
Student Example
This is an example from a student who designed a mask out of recycled clothing. When presenting their chosen design, they copy in a picture of the sketch, and then write a paragraph explaining their choice. In the paragraph, they reference the design specifications.
Chosen Design:
Justification: I have chosen Design #2 as my final design as I have decided to follow the previously established design specifications, along with the primary research I have collected from my target audience (my sister) for this summative task. This following mask meets all of the aforementioned design specifications as it includes the 3 layers (as mandated by both WHO and CDC) while the mask also ensures overall functionality and usefulness for the user as it incorporates wires to fixate the mask with the nose, while the materials for each layer of the mask is clearly outlined. Additionally, using the dimensions outlined in the diagram, I believe that I am able to follow the design as I can follow the steps in ensuring that I create a product that resembles the envisioned product as much as possible.
What do you need to do for this part of the Design Cycle?
Choose your best idea from your sketches, and present it.
Explain why you chose this idea and not the others.
It is important to reference your specifications here. You should say how the chosen design meets (or does not meet) your specifications. You could do this by writing a paragraph, or making a table.
Hints and Tips for Presenting the Best Idea
When explaining why you chose the design you did, you can also explain why the other ideas were not good enough (or how they did not meet the specs).
If its difficult to choose the best idea, you can always go back and do more idea sketching. For example, imagine you sketched ideas for two different bags, and you like the handle on bag #1 and the pockets on bag #2. You can go back and sketch a new bag that combines these features.