Design, Management and Communication
The design process as an assessable cycle
Examiners expect you to name and sequence the design process: identify the need or problem, research, generate and evaluate ideas, develop a chosen solution, produce, test and evaluate, then modify. Know that the process is iterative, not linear, and that evaluation happens throughout. Understand the design brief (client needs, constraints, parameters) and the specification (measurable criteria derived from the brief). Learn the difference between a need and a want, and between criteria and constraints.
Project management
You must be able to apply Gantt charts, critical path analysis, and action plans to a scenario. Know that the critical path is the longest sequence of dependent tasks and determines minimum project duration. Understand time, cost, and quality trade-offs, resource levelling, and contingency planning. Be able to describe quality assurance versus quality control: assurance is process-based and preventive; control is inspection-based and corrective.
Communication
Know the communication process (sender, message, medium, receiver, feedback, noise) and the difference between formal and informal channels, and between written, verbal, and visual techniques. Match the medium to the audience: a client gets a rendered concept and plain-language brief; a manufacturer gets a dimensioned drawing and specification.
Traps
Students describe the design process but never apply it to the scenario. Students draw a Gantt chart without a time scale. Students confuse the brief with the specification.
Rule of thumb
If the question says evaluate, you must give criteria and a judgement; description alone caps your mark.
Worked example
A brief says "a storage unit for a small workshop." A specification criterion is "holds 40 kg per shelf and fits a 900 mm gap." The second is measurable; the first is not.