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Rationale
Rationale
Once you have identified a number of possible 'needs' project ideas you then need to select One of those initial design situations or need to research, explore, investigate and analyse further and in depth, and give a clear justification for your choice.
A good way to then present that information is through a Rationale. A rationale is a description of the chosen design focus area for the design project with a justification of why this is important to you and why there is a need, with a clear understanding of what you are intending to do. Note, this is not a Design Brief!
Your rationale should be illustrated with imagery to help convey and explain the context - why you need to look into this area i.e. product development, material developments, developments in technology, development for disability, local environment, energy conservation (energy monitors), environmental issues (air quality), user problems, trends, issues in Thailand etc.
When you have completed your Identification of Need / Situation and Rationale you can start to focus on the Research phase of your project idea, investigating and analysing the need and what you would need to find out in order to solve the problem.
Before you commence research or a task analysis you should list (ideally on your Rationale), as Aims & Objectives:
What you want to design, Why you wish to design it, Will it fulfil a need, Why you are interested in the project idea, What do you hope to gain (learn) from the project, Why do you want to do it.
Identifying your user (or user group) is the psychological and emotional aspect of your work. The kind of products that people want to use change according to their age, their income, their needs and emotional requirements, and their expectations change according to the kind of lifestyle they aspire to. Therefore, the Identification of a Need and your Rationale are tied up with finding out what people want!
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