Part Three: Design

Part Three: Design

If you've got this far you should be well armed with all the information to create your first ideas. Most importantly, these first ideas will be better as a result of your research. This means your ideas are already much more likely to be successful and relevant. 

As an agile process you will be involved in a cycle of design ideas - feedback - refine - feedback, until you have reached a final design to move forward into development. 

Design Ideas

Design Ideas are the building blocks of a design. They relate to specific aspects of the design, either on their own or in relation to others. 

They involve exploring these different elements: 

• Visual / Sensory Elements: The aesthetic appearance and sensory "look" or "sound" of the design.

• Functional Elements: How the design works and how a user interacts with the outcome.

• Technical Elements: Underlying structure, specifications, or components that make the outcome feasible to build.

They are the first stages of a design, before we combine them into a completed final design, letting you try out different "parts" of a design.

Design ideas are low-fidelity (lo-fi) - this means they are quick, rough, and focused on exploring concepts rather than perfecting details. 

Deciding on your Design Ideas

Design ideas vary depending on the type of outcome you are creating. How you design a short film is very different from how you design a piece of music!

To come up with your design ideas, start with the components that make up your project type. 

Then look at the scope of projects for your Level. Because the complexity of the outcome differs by Level, so will the complexity of your design ideas have to. 

Then think, what could I try to explore this? Look at the slides for a few ideas...

I've also put some useful information on the Ako pages. 

Remember, you'll need at least 3 design ideas for at least 3 different components. 

Final Design

The Final Design is the "final plan" or “blueprint”. It shows how all your ideas fit together and how the whole outcome will look and function. 

It is detailed enough that you (or someone else!) could realistically build the outcome from it.

The Final Design is higher-fidelity (hi-fi) - this means it is a polished, "final" version of your plan that clearly shows how the outcome as a whole will look and work.

Important: The design is not the final outcome itself and must not be created in the software you will use for the outcome. You get to do all the building in the next course!

Deciding on your Final Design

We use standard planning formats for your final design, these are the same methods use by the pros. 

The format you use is called the "Design Form."

I've provided links to more info on how to use these on the Ako Pages.