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Specification Guide.pdfDetermine NEEDS and WANTS and decide on your PRIORITIES
Determine NEEDS and WANTS and decide on your PRIORITIES
It is not always possible to give the 'client' everything they desire, however if they do not get what they need, then there is no other way to describe it - your product is not a success. Therefore it is important to prioritise your specification criteria using a hierarchy.
Click the image below to see how innovation requires a design thinking 'balancing act' between competing interests.
Use a Venn diagram to sketch out priorities
Use a Venn diagram to sketch out priorities
A Venn diagram is a useful way of sketching out the design priorities of the product. Sometimes, needs and wants will overlap. Sometimes they will be mutually exclusive (entirely separate) from each other.
Click here to make a copy of the template below in your own Google Drive.
Don't forget to pay close attention to your design brief. There might be design constraints written in there that conflict with your own goals or interests. We are always aiming to find a balance between the requirements of the design brief and user needs & wants.
This image is a nice illustration of how different demographics have different needs and wants.
Target-Market-User-Profiles.pdfWrite your specification using ACCESSFM headings
Write your specification using ACCESSFM headings
Just as in a product analysis, ACCESSFM can also be a useful tool in planning out your design specification.
The only difference is that when you use this set of question prompts for a specification, you use each of the headings to write down your essential requirements and your desirable requirements, or in other words:
Must-have features or qualities
Should-have features or qualities
Could-have features or qualities
What is ACCESSFM?
What is ACCESSFM?
ACCESSFM is a useful acronym used in D&T as it helps focus our thoughts on certain important areas for consideration:
Aesthetics
Aesthetics is the word that describes how something looks. Think: style (fashion), form (shape), colour, texture. These can be considered individually.
Whilst it is tempting to say how much we like or dislike these attributes (features) our feelings are not important and don't help. Instead we need to consider how well they meet the target market demands.
Cost
We should consider both how much the product costs to manufacture as well as how much it may sell for. Important if we are interested in thinking about profit (making money on something).Customer
This is the target market or individual who the product is intended for. We need to know more about their demographic. You can learn more about demographics and user-centred design here. By considering who the product target market is we can better understand how well the product serves their needs and wants. Depending upon your project, you may also want to consider ergonomics or anthropometrics too.Environment
This aspect has two elements to it:1) WHERE is the product intended to be used in normal operation? I.e. is it? outdoors, indoors on a wall, on a shelf, on a table, in a high vibration environment, is it going to be dropped a lot? etc.
2) SUSTAINABILITY. What is the product's impact upon the environment? Is it carbon neutral? Did it cause harm during manufacture? Will it cause harm during use? Will it cause harm when it reaches the end of its life? To answer these questions we can use the 6R's of sustainability. We can learn more about these here.
Size
How big is the product? What are the major dimensions (sizes)? Are there any other subtle details or features we need to know the important sizes for?Safety
How well has this product been designed to ensure safety to the person using it? What integrated (built in) features are there to enable this? What national or international safety standards were used when it was designed / manufactured? You can learn more about consumer protection here.Function
Arguably the most important aspect of all: what are the primary (main) and secondary (extra) functions of the product? How well does the product perform these functions? Can these functions be improved upon? How? Why?Materials
What specific materials has this product been made from? How do you know this (or if you can't prove it, why do you think this)? What are their attributes (properties)? Are they fit for purpose (suitable)? Are they expensive? How were they manufactured / shaped / formed into the product? Can they be switched for a better / cheaper / more environmentally friendly material?
Click the links to learn more about woods, metals, plastics, ceramics, composites or smart, modern & 'meta' materials.
Do I have to use every criteria?
Do I have to use every criteria?
ACCESSFM was not written in order of importance. It was just a tool for thinking in an ordered manner. It is up to you to decide the hierarchy of your product specification, however some items are essential to consider. Which two categories do you think are the most important of all?
You can edit this pyramid in 2D Design to make your own version if you want. Just click on the 2D Design icon to download the file.
Draft specification templates
Draft specification templates
- Use a Venn diagram
This Venn diagram is a useful template for sketching out some of your design priorities.
2. Use a table template (ACCESSFM style)
2. Use a table template (ACCESSFM style)
This table can be used to save you time in creating a layout for your specification and for calculating the individual values of each feature or requirement. This is very useful in evaluating how success each of your ideas are later on in the project as well as being used as a test for the measure of success for the final prototype or product.
Click here to make a copy of the template in your own Hwb Google Drive.
Additional Advice
Additional Advice
It is advised against presenting your final specification using the template above. Instead it should be used for temporarily laying out your design success criteria. This method makes it easier to ensure that you cover all the important considerations.
When writing your final design specification, you are free to present it as you like. Many people prefer to write it as an extended piece of continuous writing, splitting up each of the ACCESSFM categories into separate paragraphs. There are some example templates for you below.
Final specification templates
Final specification templates
Using your specification to evaluate
Using your specification to evaluate
Evaluate throughout your project for strengths and weaknesses.
Evaluate throughout your project for strengths and weaknesses.
There is no point writing a design specification unless it can be used to help you evaluate how success the project is. For this reason we use our specifications as a kind of test for both our design ideas, modelling our prototype solutions and our final product.
There are many ways of using your specification as a test such as:
Using a scoring system (e.g. must have = 5 points, should-have = 3 points, could-have = 1 point).
Using traffic lights, (red, amber, green).
Using smiley faces (happy, ambivalent, sad).
Using star ratings (1-5 stars, 5 being essential, 1 being non-essential, nice to have).
Writing to evaluate
Writing to evaluate
Click this link to take you to the 'writing to evaluate' page.
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