Purpose and aims of the Course

The Course provides a broad and practical experience in product design and manufacture. It provides opportunities for learners to gain skills in designing and communicating design proposals and opportunities for learners to refine and resolve their design ideas effectively. The Course stresses the integration of designing and making. It confirms that design is an iterative process. The Course highlights the close relationship between designing, making, testing, and refining design ideas. The Course provides opportunities for learners to apply practical skills and an understanding of the properties and uses of materials and manufacturing processes. It does so in a way that allows learners to inform and refine their own design proposals. It offers them opportunities to explore design alternatives and to consider the manufacturing practicalities that these design alternatives bring to light. The Course combines elements of creativity and designing for aesthetic or visual impact with elements of designing for the practicalities of manufacturing. It helps the learner appreciate the importance to a product of form, function, and performance. It helps them develop strategies for the evaluation of these attributes and to refine and resolve their designs accordingly. The Course allows learners to consider the various factors that impact on a product’s design.

The Course provides learners with opportunities to develop:

• research skills
• idea generation techniques
• the ability to read drawings and diagrams
• the ability to communicate design ideas and practical details
• the ability to evaluate and apply both tangible and subjective feedback
• the ability to devise, plan and develop practical solutions to design opportunities.The aims of the Course are to enable learners to develop:

The Course allows learners to engage with technologies. It allows them to evaluate both the impact that design and manufacturing technologies have on our environment and society and how technologies have impacted on the world of the designer and on the manufacturing industry.

• skills in design and in refining design proposals
• practical skills in the planning and development of models and prototypes
• skills in evaluation and research
• knowledge and understanding of manufacturing processes and materials
• an understanding of the impact of design and manufacturing technologies on our environment and society.

Course Structure

As well as the Course assessment, the Course includes two mandatory Units.

Unit 1: Design (Higher)

This Unit covers the processes of product design from brief to resolved design proposals and specification. It helps learners develop skills in initiating, developing, articulating and communicating design proposals for products. It allows them to gain skills and experience in evaluating design proposals in order to refine, improve and resolve them. It allows them to develop an appreciation of design concepts and the various factors that influence the design and manufacture of products.

Unit 2: Materials and Manufacturing (Higher)

This Unit covers the processes of product design from design proposals to prototype. It allows learners to gain skills in planning and making models and prototypes. It helps learners to ‘close the design loop’ by manufacturing a set of design ideas. It allows them to develop an appreciation of manufacturing practicalities. It allows them to strengthen an appreciation of the various factors that influence the design and manufacture of products. It allows learners to consider the manufacturing techniques and processes that would apply to a design proposal in an industrial/commercial context.

Assessment:

Internal Assignment:

Pupils will undertake an internal design folio exam where they will be required produce a solution for an SQA design brief.

Written exam:

Pupils will undertake a written exam that will aim to assess their knowledge of design and manufacture.