Overview

Students will be working on a ‘live brief’ over 8 weeks with an external partner company to generate a new product or invention that meets the commercial needs of the brief. Students will be required to research, ideate, prototype and build a solution which will be presented directly to the partner company.

Topics and skills: Design research, design thinking methods, human centred design, sketching, modelling, prototyping, fabrication, design communication, client interaction, ethical design, sustainability, material selection, manufacturing techniques and project management.

Assessment Strategy

-excellent -A- to A+ (70%+): Outstanding Performance. The relevant information accurately deployed. Excellent grasp of theoretical/conceptual/practice elements. Good integration of theory/practice/information in pursuit of the assessed work's objectives. Strong evidence of the use of creative and reflective skills.

-good -B- to B+ (60-69%): Very good performance Most of the relevant information accurately deployed. Good grasp of theoretical/conceptual/practical elements. Good integration of theory/practice/information in pursuit of the assessed work's objectives. Evidence of the use of creative and reflective skills.

-another level-C- to C+ (50-59%): Much of the relevant information and skills mostly accurately deployed. Adequate grasp of theoretical/conceptual/practical elements. Fair integration of theory/practice/information in the pursuit of the assessed work's objectives. Some evidence of the use of creative and reflective skills.

-threshold -D- to D+ (40-49%): No major omissions or inaccuracies in the deployment of information/skills. Some grasp of theoretical/conceptual/practical elements. Integration of theory/practice/information present intermittently in pursuit of the assessed work's objectives.

Learning Outcomes

• Create a breadth and depth of innovation; communicate and justify proposals to a client.

• Demonstrate a product’s viability through a defined user journey story.

• Justify project direction that derives from user centred research findings.

• Prove a product’s success through real world testing.