WACE ATAR Design study guide
WACE ATAR Design · Work through your exam, one topic at a time.
The Western Australian Certificate of Education (WACE) ATAR Design course is a senior-secondary subject for Year 11 and 12 students in Western Australian schools who are working towards an Australian Tertiary Admission Rank and an interest in design practice. It is administered within the WACE framework by the School Curriculum and Standards Authority, the statutory body responsible for curriculum, assessment, standards and certification in Western Australia. The WACE ATAR Design study guide has 4 sections and about 1,684 words.
01Design Process and Project Development
WACE ATAR Design rewards candidates who can describe the design process as a cyclical, iterative system rather than a straight line. The recognised stages are: identifying the need or problem; researching and investigating; generating a design brief and specifications; ideating and sketching; developing and refining; producing; testing and evaluating; and reflecting back into the brief.
360 words, about 2 min02Design Contexts
Every design exists inside a context , and ATAR questions frequently ask you to analyse how context shapes decisions. The main contexts to know are: personal/domestic , community and cultural , commercial/industrial , environmental/sustainable , educational , and recreational .
325 words, about 2 min03Design Communication and Technologies
Design communication is judged on fitness for audience and purpose . Know the conventions of: orthographic projection (third-angle in Australia: plan, front and side views, hidden detail as dashed lines), isometric and oblique pictorials , sectional views , exploded views , assembly drawings , scale , dimensioning and line standards , and rendering with shade, shadow and material indication.
349 words, about 2 min04Design Analysis, Evaluation and Critical Response
Analysis breaks a design into parts to understand how it works; evaluation judges it against criteria. Candidates must be fluent in form and function analysis , element and principle analysis (line, shape, colour, texture, balance, contrast, rhythm, proportion), functional analysis (does it do the job, safely, reliably?), aesthetic analysis , and user testing .
650 words, about 3 min