- Appropriate quality: This is the best product/solution that the student can produce, taking into account the resources available, the skills and techniques he or she has used, his or her educational development, how the product/solution addresses the identified need, and aspects of safety and ergonomics.
- Authentic tests: The tests are relevant to the project and are completed by appropriate testers to gain high-quality quantitative and qualitative feedback.
- Client: An individual, a company or organization that commissions a designer to develop a solution to a personal or particular design problem.
- Computer-aided design (CAD): The use of computers to design products/solutions.
- Computer-aided manufacture (CAM): The use of computers to cut materials or create components, normally using CAD or numeric control.
- Design brief: The student’s response to the design situation, based on his or her research, detailing how he or she intends to solve the problem. This will summarize the relevant findings from his or her research, and inform the development of his or her design specification.
- Design situation: A short introduction to a project written by the teacher or client, which frames a design project in terms of the nature of the problem to be addressed or an area from which students will identify a challenge or problem that needs to be solved. The design situation is drawn from the statement of inquiry and presents the scope of a project.
- Design specification: A detailed description of the conditions, requirements and restrictions with which a design must comply. This is a precise and accurate list of facts, such as conditions, dimensions, materials, process and methods, that are important for the designer and for the user. All appropriate solutions will need to comply with the design specification.
- Expert appraisal: A type of product testing, which relies on the knowledge of an expert in the operation of a product. This can include interviewing an expert, beta testing and consumer testing.
- Field test: A type of product testing, which tests the performance of a new product under the conditions it will be used, which normally focuses on aspects of functionality (durability, robustness, suitability to its environment, and so on).
- Performance test: An evaluation of the actual performance of a product within the task or learning objective using the conditions under which it will be performed and the absolute standard for acceptable performance.
- Planning drawings/diagrams: Detailed drawings or diagrams, which include details of a product’s components and how they are combined/assembled.
- Target audience: A group of similar users who require a solution to a common problem or a product that fills a common need or want.
- User trial: A type of product test carried out by allowing the target market to interact with the product/solution. The observation of people using a product and collection of comments from people who have used a product. This normally focuses on usability and intuitive interaction.