Time 4 Design
Table 14
Objective A strand 3
There may be a wide range of products that solve similar problems to the one assigned to students. Before beginning to develop a specification and designs, students need to identify existing products that solve a similar problem, could partially solve their problem or could give them ideas on how to solve their problem. Students will need to employ a range of strategies to analyse these products, such as:
identification of and interaction with similar products when out shopping
attribute listing of existing products
SWOT analysis (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats)
functional analysis
aesthetic analysis
graphical disassembly analysis
performance testing of products
evaluation of past student projects
secondary research through product reviews on consumer websites, buying guides or magazines
summary of customer reviews on commercial websites.
Note: Methods could include analysis of a graphic or analysis through sketching of parts.
Example of existing Logo analysis
Adapted from https://ibpublishing.ibo.org/server2/rest/app/tsm.xql?doc=m_8_techn_tsm_1406_1_e&part=3&chapter=4