Develop your Designing
Skills in D&T
Evaluating your ideas to establish how effective they are
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Develop your Designing
Evaluating the effectiveness of your ideas
Evaluating the effectiveness of your ideas
3. Use an 'annotation frame'.
3. Use an 'annotation frame'.
When sketching design ideas it is essential that you write down your thoughts and try to explain the idea to the viewer.
An annotation frame is an effective way of helping you think about your work. It is placed around the sheet you are working on.
Click here to make an A4 copy in your own drive...
...or here for an A3 copy.
4a. Here are some templates to help you summarise your design evaluation.
4a. Here are some templates to help you summarise your design evaluation.
You should compare your design against the criteria listed in your design specification. There are multiple ways you could do it. Pick one that works for you.
4b. Use a 'Now, Wow, How?' box.
4b. Use a 'Now, Wow, How?' box.
A 'Now, Wow, How?' box is a way of exploring how feasible or innovative an idea you might have is BEFORE you start sketching.
In other words you might have a bunch of potential cool ideas but you're not sure which one is worth exploring?
By writing them down first in the correct box (either the now, wow or how box) it can be possible to filter out the boring or the plain ridiculous.
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4c. Alternatively, use a 'NUF box'.
4c. Alternatively, use a 'NUF box'.
Is your idea 'new', 'usable' or 'feasible'? By weighing up these aspects of each of your ideas it is possible to make it easier to choose which ideas are 'worthy' of developing further.
A 'NUF box' is similar to 'Now, Wow, How?' but with the addition of scoring to help quantify the 'best' idea.
Click here to make a copy of this template in your own drive.
5a. Carry out a SWOT analysis to help weigh-up the viability of an idea.
5a. Carry out a SWOT analysis to help weigh-up the viability of an idea.
By evaluating the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats facing an idea you may have for your product or design you can help make a reasoned decision about whether or how to develop it further.
The scoring system could be anything, but usually it would be something like 1-5, 1-10, etc. (E.g 1 being low).
Click here to make an A4 copy of the template for editing or printing, or click here for an A3 version.
5b. Use a radar (spider) diagram to help make a 'best-fit' decision.
5b. Use a radar (spider) diagram to help make a 'best-fit' decision.
Make a copy of this so that it can be edited by you (editing this one will change it for EVERYONE).
Initial ideas
Initial ideas
Help me organise my first designs
Evaluating ideas
Evaluating ideas
Help me establish if they are any 'good'.
Developing ideas
Developing ideas
Help me improve my ideas to make them better.
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