Starting Points for Designing

Detailed below are some suggested starting points that are presented as visual brainstorms which the teacher can use with the class to explore the context and identify many different sorts of product that could be designed and made. They give pupils an opportunity to decide what sort of product they want to design and make.  The exact nature of the products designed and made will depend on the age and previous experience of the pupils and resources available in the school.

These starting points have been chosen because they provide rich contexts in which there are many opportunities for pupils to design and make all sorts of products.  Each starting point can lead to a wide range of different design responses.  

• Playtime:
• Communication
• Keeping in Touch
• Staying Safe
• New Worlds
• Thinking Machines

Included within the Associated Files below are open briefs, moderately open briefs where the user of the product and the situation in which the product will be used are suggested, but the exact nature of the product is left open and some examples of closed briefs in which the nature of the product to be designed is specified and in most cases the user of the product is also suggested.

Other Possible Starting Points might be:

• Going places - transport at different levels of detail and transport systems and futures thinking about intelligent infrastructure
• Looking good - clothing, accessories, body adornment, and ideas of beauty and link to diet and exercise
• Entertainment - performance design, set design, prop design, games design
• Eating and drinking - food and drink product development and link strongly to diet and exercise and also to occasions for eating and drinking
• Hunger and thirst - food and drink from a more global perspective
• Spaces - environments for living, working and public use

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